South Australia Renewable Energy

South Australia Renewable Energy targets are being smashed for 206/17. The SA government’s official target for renewable energy is 50% of demand and they were hoping to reach this by 2025. Recent figures released show that large scale wind power and rooftop solar PV in South Australia has already reached that target easily – measuring at 57% this financial year.

South Australia Renewable Energy –

South Australia Renewable Energy 2017
South Australia Renewable Energy 2017

The Australian Energy Regulator released a report last week that shows wind+solar has reached 57% in the 2016/2017 financial year.

According to the AER, “In the nine months to 31 March 2017, the contribution of wind generation was even greater, supplying 50 per cent of South Australia’s electricity,” – this is as a result of Snowtown Wind Farm (currently 368.7MW) and Hornsdale Wind Farm (currently 315MW) reaching key stages in construction and affecting the output considerably.

Although wind power is currently generating huge numbers of energy for South Australia, The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) expect that the amount of PV solar rooftop will double by 2025 (this will result in over 1500MW). The most important thing at this point is figuring out an intelligent way to organise battery storage of solar energy as this technology continues to evolve. South Australia has had a torrid 12 months with regards to energy blackouts and it’s imperative that we find a way to manage situations where the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. The Bungala Solar Project (220MW, to scale to 300MW) is slated to start supplying power by summer 2018 and reach full capacity (220MW) in August 2018.

Last week we also released information on the Clean Energy Australia Report for 2016 which showed that SA generated 5,508Gwh in renewables, with a penetration of 48%. RenewEconomy have estimated that Bungala and the Lincoln Gap wind farm (212MW) will take the state to 65% renewable – by far the biggest of all the states in Australia. Although South Australia has battled with power issues over the last year it is exciting to see how motivated they are to ensure they generate as much renewable energy as possible. As the state upgrades its ability to manage rapidly evolving technology whilst mitigating the swings in available wind/solar we are sure they’ll continue to lead Australia in the industry and are excited to see what this means for the future of renewable energy in South Australia.

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Solar Q Gympie Solar Farm $2b Development Proposal Lodged

Solar Q, a Queensland based solar company, has lodged a development application with the Gympie Council as they are currently proposing to develop a $2b solar farm and battery storage 30km north-west of the city. Terrific news for renewable energy in Queensland and we are really excited to see how they manage the energy storage aspect of the project.

Solar Q MD Scott Armstrong

Managing director of Solar Q, Scott Armstrong, has been quoted by the ABC as advising the project is Australia’s biggest solar + energy facility. “To give you an idea of size, at ultimate design it will provide around 15 per cent of south-east Queensland’s energy requirements from both the solar panels and the 4,000 megawatt hours of energy storage,” Mr Armstrong said.

The plan is to build this amazing facility in stages, with the first stage (which Solar Q have already applied to build) totalling 350MW. This is slated to increase to 800MW by 2021 – enough electricity to power around 315,000 houses. The solar farm will connect to the grid at a Lower Wonga substation and can feed energy to Kilkivan, Gympie, Palmwoods, Caboolture, Beerwah – and will even be able to feed into North Brisbane and all the way north to Gin Gin and central Queensland.

Solar Q Gympie Solar Farm
Solar Q Gympie Solar Farm Approximate Location

The 17km2 site will house around 3 million solar panels and help ease the load on power stations during periods of peak consumption such as night time or during heatwaves.

To put these numbers into perspective, Queensland has the highest rate of business and residential solar in the country, a total of 1,805mw with over 32% of homes having solar panels installed. This project would increase the number by almost 50%, ensuring QLD can continue jostling with SA in the fight to be the solar capital of Australia. It looks like the 2020 RET (Renewable Energy Target) of 33,000 GWh of renewable sourced energy is still on track.

Renewable Energy Target 2020 Australia
Renewable Energy Target 2020 Australia (Source:cleanenergycouncil.org.au)

Gympie Solar Farm Project Description

As per the Gympie Times, the project will:

  • Generate around 735,000MWH/an which will power 127,000 homes (we assume this are figures for stage 1)
  • Generate 350MW of Solar PV.
  • Create 450 full time jobs for 18 months during construction.
  • Create 6-8 full time ongoing jobs.
  • Reduce carbon emissions by 666 tonnes of co2 – which is as much as 180k cars.
  • Be housed on 572 hectares of cleared grazing land, adjacent to the Lower Wonga substation.

The Approval Process

Mick Curran, the Mayor of Gympie, was quoted as saying that “there doesn’t appear to be any great hurdles to overcome” – noting that the project will create 450 jobs during its construction and he would “certainly look forward personally to seeing all of these approvals come to fruition”. If there is no problem with the  Gympie Council or State Government Agencies, work on the Solar Q Gympie Solar Plant will start by the end of 2017.

The plant will be funded without government help – by a combination of private investors and superannuation management funds.

Watch this space for more information on this exciting development!

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