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Large-Scale Energy Storage

Darlington Point Solar Farm to receive 100MW battery

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The NSW based Darlington Point Solar Farm will receive a 100MW built adjacent to the facility as part of a $3.2b push from the NSW government to bolster energy storage alongside soaring solar panel install rates.

Darlington Point Solar Farm Battery

The Darlington Point Solar Farm commenced operations earlier this year so to have energy storage sitting alongside it will be a massive boon for everyone involved. According to Wikipedia the total output will be 333MW DC or 275MW AC, with Delta Energy having a PPA for 150MW.

Shell Energy and Edify Energy will work together over the next 10 years to build the 100MW battery – with Shell taking a half share of the Darlington Point battery, according to Greg Joiner, CEO of Shell.

“This long-term services agreement is a model for how large energy users can access dispatchable power like battery storage, which complements renewables, while contributing to a cleaner and more resilient power system,” Mr Joiner said.

Edify’s CEO John Cole was also understandably bullish about the situation:

“Energy storage is fast becoming a valued capacity solution for the National Electricity Market, given its fast and precise response,” Mr Cole said. “The uncertainties in this growing technology class are reducing and with it the barriers to acceptance from market and network participants.”

Energy and Environment Minister Matt Kean put out a press release discussing the battery and NSW’s solar future plans:

“The NSW government is the second-biggest energy customer in the state, and we are using our purchasing power to leverage new dispatchable capacity to help power our schools, hospitals, traffic lights and tunnels,” Mr Kean said.

“This battery will help to keep the lights on and keep costs down during peak energy periods, and support more renewable energy to come online.”

With commercial solar power going from strength to strength in 2021 it’s heartening to see large-scale energy storage solutions growing at a somewhat commensurate rate. Should help us cut down on the ‘what do you do when the sun’s not shining’ naysayers!

Click here to learn more about the Darlington Point Solar Farm from Edify’s website!

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Yarrabee Solar Project | NSW’s Biggest Solar Farm

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The $1b, 900MW Yarrabee Solar Project has been greenlit and will be New South Wales’ largest solar farm. It will be built by Reach Solar Energy in stages, starting this year. 

Yarrabee Solar Project | 900W | $1b

Yarrabee Solar Project Location
Yarrabee Solar Project Location (source: yarrabeesolar.com)

The Yarrabee Solar Farm project location has been classed as “moderate agricultural capability” (i.e. not ‘prime agricultural) and as such has had a lot less troubles getting approved. It’ll be built in stages, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, and, although the final cost is slated to be somewhere around $1b, the first stage will represent 300MW with a 35MW/70MWh solar battery (as per the application on the NSW Planning and Environment website). The official website notes an ‘Energy Storage System’ so we’re not 100% sure what is going to end up happening with large scale energy storage on the site, but there’s definitely potential at Yarrabee for it! 

According to the official website, construction of the farm will result in a lot of solar jobs for the region – with 150-200 workers onsite each day, and up to 450 in peak activities. After the project is complete, 15-25 full time jobs will be created. It’s expected to power the equivalent of 315,000 homes when completed. 

The farm will be built by Reach Solar Energy who are also responsible for the 275MW Bungala Solar Farm which will be commencing stage 3 of its construction this year, so they have a pedigree with regards to successfully delivering large-scale solar farms in Australia. Construction is expected to take two years for phase 1 (300MW) and will be connected to the adjacent transmission network (Wagga 330kV to Darlington Point transmission line). 

The address of the solar project is: 2354 Back Morundah Road, Morundah.

For further information about the project approval, please contact the planner, Diana Mitchell via email at [email protected].

Reach have also created a video about the solar farm which you can view below!

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Battery Energy Storage System in Alice Springs

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Battery Energy Storage System – Alice Springs is set to receive its first grid-scale battery as solar power in the Northern Territory heats up.

Alice Springs Battery Energy Storage System

Battery Energy Storage System Alice Springs
Battery Energy Storage System discussion at Alice Springs (source: territorygeneration.com.au)

The $8.3M, 5MW/2.5MWh grid-scale battery storage facility in Alice Springs was announced last year and has been completed this week. It was built by New Zealand solar company Vector using LG grid-scale solar batteries.  

Government owned Territory Generation (The Northern Territory’s major electricity producer) have advised that they’re hoping this battery will facilitate greater uptake of solar in the NT:

“The Battery Energy Storage System is an important milestone in the Northern Territory’s transition to renewable energy and a critical piece of infrastructure to support the Northern Territory Government’s Roadmap to Renewables strategy,” Territory Generation Chief Executive Officer Tim Duignan said.

“Reliability and stability of the power system is a critical barrier in the uptake of renewable energy across Australia, and I am pleased that we are at the forefront of tackling this issue right here in Alice Springs,” he continued.

The BESS should have quite a big impact on base-load power as well, so let’s see how it fares during summer 2018/19. Previously a very conservative approach to local grid management (read more in RenewEconomy) means this battery should help quite a lot: with half an hour storage capability, and can supply 8MW for 6 seconds, or 7.5MW for 60 seconds – suitable for the moments everyone decides their air conditioners need to be turned on at the same time!  

Mr. Duignan also discussed the plans for Darwin solar in the future: “The cutting-edge technology in our Battery Energy Storage System will reinforce Alice Springs as the solar capital of Australia by enabling greater solar penetration whilst maintaining grid stability.”

We wrote about the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) last June as it was unveiled in an attempt to compete with the other states, where the Northern Territory was lagging behind considerably (January 2017 PV output was 4,049MWh vs Queensland’s 126,629MWh). 

The Northern Territory is in a very unique position compared to its neighbour states – the state hosts a mere one percent of the total population but it represents approximately 15% of Australia’s land mass. However, installs are more expensive over there due to less competition and higher cyclone ratings required on solar panels. This dearth of Darwin solar is starting to change and there are a raft of high quality solar installers working hard in Darwin, Katherine, Alice Springs, and more. It’ll be interesting to see how quickly they can catch up to the other states. 

Darwin Solar Farms

There are plenty of farms and solar projects in various stages of completion in the Northern Territory and this is growing rapidly:

  • GPT Group have 1.25 MW at Casuarina Square shopping Centre
  • Darwin International Airport’s 4MW.
  • Epuron are working on a 25MW Solar plant at Katherine.
  • The Australian Defence Force have tendered for a 12MW of solar (combined) at their Darwin and Robertson Barracks.
  • Rim Fire Energy Retail’s 10MW Batchelor solar farm.
  • Infigen Energy are building a 12MW solar farm at Manton Dam and 10MW at Batchelor.
  • Community solar project “Repower Alice Springs” is planning for a 10MW community solar farm.

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Ballarat Energy Storage System | Solar Storage in Victoria

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The Ballarat Energy Storage System has been turned on by the Victorian Government today – let’s take a look at this unique battery and see how it will help shape Victoria’s energy future!

Ballarat Energy Storage System

The Ballarat Energy Storage System has 30MW capacity and can output 30MWh – it’s located at the Ballarat terminal station and is owned by Australian energy company Ausnet. The battery storage units are Fluence branded, and were installed by Spotless and Downer Group.

Ballarat Energy Storage System
Ballarat Battery Energy Storage System (source: spotless.com)

ARENA and the Victorian Government will jointly provide $25 million in funding for both this project and the Gannawarra Energy Storage System (GESS). The project (BESS) is expected to end up costing around $35m. 

Lily D’Ambrosio, the minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, made a statement about the Ballarat Energy Storage System discussing the Government’s plans for Australia’s renewable energy future:

“We said we would deliver these large-scale batteries for Victoria, and that’s exactly what we’ve done,” she said.

“This is part of our plan to transition to a more affordable, reliable and clean energy system. We’re modernising our electricity grid, strengthening our energy security and delivering real action on climate change.”

According to RenewEconomy, the battery will be most useful in these three situations:

  1. It can help with congestion on Victoria’s transmission grid (especially as it’s installed at a network terminal rather than a wind or solar farm (which is the norm)). 
  2. It’ll help shore up the baseline load for Melbourne, especially during peak times when air conditioners and deconstructed latte machines are switched on en masse; and
  3. It’ll provide ‘key grid stability services’ like frequency control. 

Lastly, straight from the horses’s mouth:

The battery will store energy at times of relatively low value. The battery will use stored energy and use it at times of relatively high value. The project will also examine providing other grid services such as frequency control ancillary services (FCAS) and, should it be established under the electricity market rules, a Fast Frequency Response (FFR).

It’ll be fascinating to see how this works over the summer – we’ll, of course, also be keeping a close eye on the Tesla batteries at the Hornsdale Power Reserve to see if they’re able to continue delivering massive savings to the SA government. How long until the rest of the states follow suit? 

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PowerBank trial for WA Homes | Tesla PowerPack

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An official announcement by the Government of Western Australia on Wednesday notes that they will partner with Western Power and Synergy to offer a Tesla PowerBank trial via a 105kW (420kWh) Tesla PowerBank battery.

PowerBank trial for WA Homes.

 

PowerBank trial for WA Homes.
Tesla PowerPack Commercial Battery – PowerBank trial for WA Homes (source: Tesla)

The 24 month trial period means that customers participating will be able to ‘virtually’ store excess power they generate during the day (it’ll be fed into the utility-scale 105kW Tesla PowerPack Battery). They can then use 8kWhs of the PowerBank’s battery storage without needing to install their own power bank. According to the press release (and it’s true!), “8kWhs is enough to power the average suburban home for over one hour during peak time.”

Energy Minister Ben Wyatt discussed the Tesla PowerBank trial in a series of interesting quotes which explain how helpful this trial could be to Mandurah residents:

“PowerBank is an ‘in front of the meter’ storage trial which allows invited local customers to store excess electricity from already installed solar PV systems to then use it during peak times.

“This is another Australian milestone for the application of utility-scale batteries for the benefit for customers, drawing on the groundbreaking work by Synergy in its Alkimos Beach energy storage trial.

“For the first time in Australia, a utility-scale battery will be integrated into an established suburb’s network, like Meadow Springs, that has a high level of existing solar PV uptake.

“At the cost of one dollar a day, customers will have access to 8kWh of battery storage to use any time after 3pm each day.

“This trial shows that the WA Government is serious about working with renewables, delivering for taxpayers and planning for our energy future.”

Click here to view the media statement from the WA state government.

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