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Mannum Solar Farm Greenlit | Murraylands Solar

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The 5MW Mannum Solar Farm in the Murraylands will be built by Tetris Energy, and has been approved by the local government. 

Mannum Solar Farm

The Mannum Solar Farm will be 5MW in size, generated by 17,500 solar panels. It will also include a security fence and vegetation screen to ensure neighbouring property owners aren’t disturbed (sometimes we hear about glint and glare when there is solar farm opposition). The farm will be across the road from the Rivapak onion packaging facility. 

An article in the Murray Valley Standard noted that over 8000 households in the Murraylands area have solar panels installed on the roof of their properties – so it’s an amazing area which shows that South Australian solar is continuing to grow domestically and commercially.

Tetris Energy, based in Melbourne, will develop the site. They have already successfully developed 10 solar and wind power plants across Australia so they have a good pedigree – and they have also already secured a purchaser of all 5MW of the power (not named) – but this is obviously a fantastic boost for the farm and will ensure it gets built quickly. The proposal had been approved last April, but had the number of solar panels slightly reduced (in the November application) so they don’t overshadow each other. 

Murraylands Solar Farms

There are already three other solar farms in the Murraylands area:

Clean Energy Council chief executive Kane Thornton discussed solar uptake in the Murraylands in the Murray Valley Standard:

“Homes with rooftop solar installed are saving an average of about $540 per year on their electricity bills,” he said.

“Solar is a clear way for consumers to take control of their power consumption and cut costs, and it’s growing quickly by word of mouth.” Mr. Thornton continued. 

Kane Thornton - Clean Energy Council - Mannum Solar Farm
Kane Thornton – Clean Energy Council – Mannum Solar Farm (source: LinkedIn)

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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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Walgett Solar Farm to supply 50% of UTS solar

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The University of Technology of Sydney (UTS) has signed a PPA with the Walgett Solar Farm which will cover 50% of its energy usage.

Walgett Solar Farm

The $40m Walgett Solar Farm was approved by the NSW government last year – it will eventually output 32MW and is now reaching the next stage of its project lifecycle.

The farm is owned fully by Epuron, who will be able to commence construction on the project after signing this PPA with UTS.

“For our renewable projects to be able to attract finance and get built, it’s crucial to find suitable partners to become committed customers and provide certainty,” Epuron Director Martin Poole told PV Magazine.

“With the UTS commitment to purchase our clean energy output, the Walgett Solar Farm can move ahead and we look forward to commencing construction in the coming months.” Mr Poole continued.

The project is expected to be built in two stages with the first stage outputting around 15MW.

The Walgett Solar Farm will generate approximately 63,000MWh p.a. once complete – enough to power almost 10,000 homes in New South Wales. 

UTS Solar

Walgett Solar Farm
Walgett Solar Farm PPA will help power UTS (source: newsroom.uts.edu.au)

This is the third PPA UTS have signed to add to its renewable portfolio – their main goal, as we wrote last year, is to completely offset their energy usage with renewable energy via a $1.3b ‘City Campus Master Plan’.

“We are committed to finding sustainable solutions to reduce our environmental impact,” UTS Vice-Chancellor Attila Brungs said. “But we don’t just want to create improvement for ourselves, we want to change whole systems to enable others to also improve their sustainability. UTS has spent the last couple of years researching and creating an effective energy model to help reduce emissions while also supporting the continued growth of the renewable energy sector.”

They’ve installed six solar systems on rooftops at the UTS campus and, by 2020/21, are hoping to reduce their emissions 30% on 2007 levels. 

In other university solar news, the University of Newcastle is doing great things with printed solar cells.

 

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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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Summerhill solar farm commences construction.

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The 5MW Summerhill solar farm will officially commence construction tomorrow – the farm will be located at the former Wallsend Borehole Colliery. 

Summerhill solar farm

Summerhill Solar Farm
Summerhill Solar Farm – Artist’s Rendition (source: smh.com.au)

All the renewable energy created by the Summerhill solar farm will be owned by the Newcastle City Council who will then be approximately 50% powered by renewable energy. 

Carnegie’s wholly owned subsidiary Energy Made Clean and JV partner Lendlease have been awarded the design and construction of the project, according to PV Magazine. It’ll be built on top of the former Wallsend Borehole Colliery. Read more about the tender here. 

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the solar plant’s cost is around $8m, with $6.5m of this provided in the form of a loan by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

Initial modelling shows that this plant will save around $350,000 per annum, also noting that the city council’s cost of electricity has double over the past few years – making this a very attractive option to help offset the highly volatile wholesale price of electricity. It’s listed as ‘battery ready’ according to the Altenergy website. 

Nuatali Nelmes, the Lord Mayor of Newcastle, discussed the project in a media statement:

“The solar farm will produce enough energy to run the equivalent of all of our council facilities during the day, which represents significant environmental returns for ratepayers and millions of dollars in savings on electricity costs,” Mayor Nelmes said.

Further discussion shows that, although financial ramifications are very important, the eco-friendly nature of the project was ‘more than just money’:

“While cost savings are certainly a critical factor in our decision to build the solar farm, sustainability initiatives are about more than just money and our community expects us to be good environmental stewards,” Ms Nelmes continued.

This is a fantastic attitude and we look forward to seeing how well the SUmmerhill solar farm performs for the Newcastle City Council. More top news for council solar, which has been growing in leaps and bounds over the last 18 months. 

Read some more articles about council solar below!

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