News & Discussion: Electricity Infrastructure

[Bob]

South Australia’s stunning aim to be “net” 100 per cent renewables by 2030

https://reneweconomy.com.au/south-austr ... s-by-2030/

[PeFe]

Article from PV Magazine summarizing next lot of renewable energy projects in South Australia.

Renewables still setting strong pace in South Australia
The April shelving of a major solar thermal plant has done little to slow the pace of renewable energy projects being proposed in South Australia.

JUNE 14, 2019 PV MAGAZINE



From The Lead

In the past three months, applications for almost 1.7 gigawatts of renewable energy generation across six projects have been assessed by the South Australian Government’s State Planning Commission.

Of these, the 280MW Cultana Solar Farm – the first large scale project in billionaire industrialist Sanjeev Gupta’s plan to generate one gigawatt of dispatchable renewable energy in South Australia – was approved by State Planning Minister Stephan Knoll last month.

The other five projects still awaiting ministerial consent include:

RES Australia 176MW solar farm and 66MW battery storage facility near Murray Bridge;
Neoen Australia(Crystal Brook Energy Park) 125MW windfarm, 150MW Solar Farm and 130MW lithium-ion battery near Crystal Brook;
Energy Projects Solar (Bungama Solar) 280 MW solar PV and 140MW battery storage plant to integrate into the National Electricity Market through a 275 kV connection to ElectraNet’s Bungama Substation near Port Pirie;
Energy Projects Solar staged development of a 500MW solar farm with 250MW storage near Robertstown, and;
RES Australia (Twin Creek Wind Farm Project) 183MW wind and 50MW battery storage near Kapunda.
Two other South Australian projects – the 95MW Tailem Bend Solar Project and stage one of the 220MW Bungala Solar Farm near Port Augusta started exporting power to the national grid earlier this year.

There are also dozens of micro solar farms up to 5MW being constructed across the state.

South Australia is home to Tesla’s 100MW/129MWh battery, which became the “world’s largest lithium-ion battery” when it was installed at Neoen’s Hornsdale Wind Farm in December 2017.

South Australia already leads the nation in the uptake of wind energy and roof-top solar with renewable sources accounting for more than 50 per cent of the electricity generated in the state.

However, the closure of two coal-fired power stations in recent years has increased South Australia’s reliance on energy supplies from the eastern Australian states, particularly in times of peak demand.

SolarReserve’s 150MW Aurora Solar Thermal Plant in Port Augusta was set to include eight hours or 1100MWh of thermal storage, allowing it to operate like a conventional base load power station.

The South Australian Government announced on April 5, however, that it had been informed SolarReserve could not reach financial close and planned to sell the project to a third party who may take the project or an alternative project forward at the site.

Full article : https://www.pv-magazine-australia.com/2 ... australia/

[rev]

Not directly SA energy related but close enough..
Construction to start in 2023, operational by 2027.


https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sou ... fb76d30638

[Spurdo]

Not directly SA energy related but close enough..
Construction to start in 2023, operational by 2027.


https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sou ... fb76d30638

Not so sure about that cable though, wouldnt you would lose a large amount of electricity over that amount of distance?

[SRW]

Yeah, that's what I'd expect - massive degradation over distance.

This is where the potential of hydrogen is so promising. In essence, we could bottle our ample wind and sun and ship it overseas.

[1NEEDS2POST]

Not so sure about that cable though, wouldnt you would lose a large amount of electricity over that amount of distance?

Wikipedia says HVDC losses are around 3 % per 1000 km. So from Darwin to Singapore, it will lose about 11 %. That's not bad, especially if the solar power is cheap.

[PeFe]

Robertstown solar farm given state government approval to proceed, next step financing.

From Renew Economy

Huge solar and battery project wins development approval in South Australia




Plans to build a 500MW solar farm coupled with 250MW/1000MWh of battery storage north-east of Adelaide have won development approval from the South Australian government.

The key step forward for the massive $1.2 billion solar and storage project, proposed for a site east of Robertstown, about 115km north east of Adelaide, was announced on Wednesday by NSW-based developers EPS Energy.

EPS Energy, said that it had got the green light from the state Coalition government after receiving no objections at all from local council or residents.

“It’s an exciting project and we’re very grateful for the level of support we’ve received from Robertstown, the community, state government departments and agencies and the regional Council of Goyder,” said EPS Energy director Steve McCall.

McCall said the solar farm – which still had a number of hurdles to clear before commencing construction, including reaching financial close – would ultimately generate enough electricity to power 144,000 homes, while also helping to strengthen the South Australian grid.

As we noted earlier this year, the Robertstown project is one of two major PV developments proposed for that particular area, with the nearby Solar River project having won development approval last year.

Both projects appear to have been proposed in anticipation of the development of a new connector to NSW, plans for which are being investigated by AEMO and local network operator ElectraNet.

The link favoured by AEMO and ElectraNet would begin near the Robertstown sub-station and go through to Wagga Wagga in New South Wales, with a connection into Victoria.

Full article : https://reneweconomy.com.au/huge-solar- ... lia-35990/

[PeFe]

Alinta Energy has signed up to the Solar River project near Robertstown in the mid north.
The solar farm will be built with a big battery ( battery maker yet to be decided)
This is a different project from my post above this one.
From Renew Economy

Alinta signs up for huge solar and battery project in South Australia



A 200MW South Australia solar project that proposes to add “one of the largest” batteries in the Southern Hemisphere should be under construction by Christmas, after its developers snared a power purchase agreement with major utility, Alinta Energy.

The deal, announced on Thursday, locks in finance for the $480 million Solar River Project, which is being developed by Jason May and Richard Winter near Robertstown, in South Australia’s mid-north.

May, who says this moment has been two years in the making, would not disclose the financial details of the 15-year PPA, but told RenewEconomy that the deal with Hong Kong-owned Alinta was for 75 per cent of the solar farm’s output, making the project “very bankable.”

Solar River, which May says has been in the conceptual phase for a good deal longer than two years, is a substantial project, integrating 200MW of PV and a 100MW/300MWh battery under one generation licence.

Exactly who is supplying the battery is not being disclosed yet, either, but May does say it will come from one of the largest companies in the world, and use “cutting edge,” never before deployed technology.

(RE notes that Korean energy storage company Kokam last year supplied a 30MW/11.4MWh Energy Storage System to Alinta to pair with an existing 178MW open cycle gas turbine in the Pilbara, W.A.)

“This is the first purpose-built PV battery system in the world,” May told RE on Thursday. “It’s never been deployed before, but because of who (the company supplying the battery) are, it can be banked.”

Full article : https://reneweconomy.com.au/alinta-sign ... lia-79253/

[PeFe]

And yet another large solar project approval from the South Australian government.
This time its the Bungama solar farm near Port Pirie....with a battery proposal bigger than Hornsdale.
From Renew Economy

Fourth huge solar and battery project approved for South Australia

Yet another large-scale solar and storage project has been given the green light for development in South Australia, with the state government granting approval on Friday to the 280MW Bungama project proposed by EPS Energy.

Bungama Solar, to be located just outside of Port Pirie, aims to pair 280MW of PV with 140MW/560MWh of battery storage, as part of EPS Energy’s 1GW+ pipeline of solar and storage projects being developed in the state.

This includes the Robertstown Solar project, which won state development approval just two weeks ago, to install 500MW of PV and a 250MW/1000MWh battery north-east of Adelaide.

Nearby, the Solar River project by Jason May and Richard Winter – which will instal 200MW of PV and “one of the largest” batteries in the Southern Hemisphere – landed a power purchase agreement with major utility, Alinta Energy, on Thursday.

Sanjeev Huptas GFG Alliance, of course, is also building the 280MW Cultana solar farm near Whyalla, with its own 135MW/100MWh battery storage also planned for near Port Augustaas well as a pumped hydro facility in the nearby Middleback Ranges.

All told, this will add more than 1GW of utility scale solar, and a significant amount of storage, propelling the state rapidly towards its target of “net” 100 per cent renewables by 2030, if not earlier.

EPS said on Friday that the Bungama project, like the Robertstown solar farm, had enjoyed an “extraordinary level” of community and government support.

Full article : https://reneweconomy.com.au/fourth-huge ... lia-53364/

[PeFe]

The Pallamana Solar Farm proposal for Murray Bridge has been given state government approval (which means they can now chase finance and potential customers ie power companies)

From Renew Economy

South Australia has 10GW wind and solar in pipeline as it heads to 100% renewables




South Australia’s conservative Liberal government has boasted that it has 10GW of large scale wind and solar projects now in the development pipeline, propelling the state towards its anticipated milestone of “net” 100 per cent renewables by 2030.

The accumulated total was revealed by state energy minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan as he welcomed approval for a 176MW solar and battery storage project near Murray Bridge in South Australia – the fifth such project to get the go-ahead in the state in a matter of weeks.

The $350 million Pallamana Solar Farm, by developers RES, received planning consent on Tuesday, keeping the project in step with the timeline detailed on its website.

The solar farm – to be located on 73 hectares of land around 60km south-east of Adelaide – will generate enough power to meet the needs of 82,000 homes, and also store “dispatchable” energy in lithium-ion battery banks, the company says.

Minister van Holst Pellekaan said in a statement that the state had an “unrivalled portfolio of renewable energy projects” with substantial wind and solar capacity already installed and a “great deal more on the drawing board”.

He noted that this would further enhance the economic and environmental credentials of the $1.5 billion SA-NSW interconnector proposed by Electranet and supported by both the state and the Australian Energy Market Operator, and which will be key to delivering the Liberal state government’s ambition of becoming a major exporter of renewable energy.

“The fact SA currently has some 10,000MW of solar and wind generation on the drawing board highlights the state’s potential to be a energy powerhouse,” van Holst Pellekaan said.

Full article : https://reneweconomy.com.au/south-austr ... les-65116/

[Waewick]

Net 100% sounds dodgy.

But still, it's great news for the state

[SBD]

Net 100% sounds dodgy.

But still, it's great news for the state

I guess it means that the total GWh generated from renewable sources is more than the total GWh consumed in SA in a year, but there are interconnectors to other states, and there are non-renewable fuel generators in SA that will be running some of the time. At the moment, the market rules require some gas generators to be running at all times. The rules have also changed to require more storage, or that new developments are not licensed to their full theoretical capacity.

[PeFe]

Well I believe that from 2020 it will be possible for South Australia to achieve 100% renewable power supply....... during the day ......ie wind and solar will supply enough energy to provide energy needs during daylight hours.

At night time...there is not enough storage......hello SA government!!!!.....time for you to step up and provide a lead..........storage is a key in making the renewable energy transition work...

Why 2020...because energy regulations will allow "synchronous generators" to enter the market allowing "grid stability and power" provided by synchronous generators to replace gas as a "baseload power" providing stability to the local grid.

At the moment gas producers are guaranteed at least 295 mw of power (even if wind can provide cheaper power) to "anchor" the local grid......this will end in 2020.

AMEO (the Australian Energy Market Operator) has , to its credit, lowered the threshold at which renewable energy can dominate a local grid ie wind or solar being the dominant power supply.

Watch this space....lots more interesting developments to come....

[SBD]

Well I believe that from 2020 it will be possible for South Australia to achieve 100% renewable power supply....... during the day ......ie wind and solar will supply enough energy to provide energy needs during daylight hours.

At night time...there is not enough storage......hello SA government!!!!.....time for you to step up and provide a lead..........storage is a key in making the renewable energy transition work...

Why 2020...because energy regulations will allow "synchronous generators" to enter the market allowing "grid stability and power" provided by synchronous generators to replace gas as a "baseload power" providing stability to the local grid.

At the moment gas producers are guaranteed at least 295 mw of power (even if wind can provide cheaper power) to "anchor" the local grid......this will end in 2020.

AMEO (the Australian Energy Market Operator) has , to its credit, lowered the threshold at which renewable energy can dominate a local grid ie wind or solar being the dominant power supply.

Watch this space....lots more interesting developments to come....

Did you mean "synchronous generators" or "synchronous condensers"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronous_condenser

ElectraNet intends to install synchronous condensers at Davenport and Robertstown substation sites to provide . Ref: https://www.electranet.com.au/wp-conten ... -FINAL.pdf

At night (small hours of the morning) when the wind is blowing SA sometimes generates more wind power than the total consumed. https://opennem.org.au/#/region/sa/energy shows it happened four of the last seven nights as well as three days (combined with grid and household solar).

Batteries are expensive and not really scaled to provide continuous power. The Aurora solar power tower was going to provide storage (as hot salt), but that has been canned as uneconomic due to other projects to reduce the high price spikes. There are at least five proposals for pumped hydro storage in SA. I think several have development approval but none have financial commitment yet. If the market came up with rules that valued storage, then perhaps some of those would proceed. At present, most storage is proposed as an adjunct to individual renewable generators to allow them to bid deeper into the market by guaranteeing more of their supply power. The GFG Alliance/Zen Energy proposals near Whyalla might get up as Gupta will own the entire electricity supply chain from sunlight to steel. His business model will not rely on arbitrage between the troughs and peaks of the wholesale electricity price.

[PeFe]

Did you mean "synchronous generators" or "synchronous condensers"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronous_condenser

Ah yes, I meant "condensers" ....not generators.

At present, most storage is proposed as an adjunct to individual renewable generators to allow them to bid deeper into the market by guaranteeing more of their supply power. The GFG Alliance/Zen Energy proposals near Whyalla might get up as Gupta will own the entire electricity supply chain from sunlight to steel. His business model will not rely on arbitrage between the troughs and peaks of the wholesale electricity price.

The Cultana and Highbury and Kanmantoo pumped hydro proposals are not necessarily linked to solar/wind farms. Gupta's proposed hydro is in the Middleback Ranges 90 kilometres away from Whyalla and his solar farm. Also Gupta's proposal is the smallest capacity of all the proposals, really only sized as back up power for his steel plant.

Cultana is proposed to use sea water (giving an advantage over its competitors using fresh water) but vacant mines provide cheaper builds....

Hopefully more than one of these proposals get up.