News & Discussion: Electricity Infrastructure

[SBD]

Electricity transformers are built in Victoria. Wind turbine blades are made in Victoria. Transmission cables are made in Sydney.

Does anyone in Australia currently build wind turbine hub/generators in Australia? There's at least one brand of home solar panels made in SA. Can they scale up to industrial scale solar farms?

Grid scale batteries might be another product that there is demand for, and may not be made in Australia at present. A working non-petroleum energy source for long-distance transport could and should be a current research area - hydrogen manufacture, transport, storage and fuel cells; lighter batteries; something we have not even thought of yet

Twenty or thirty years ago, I'd have agreed about a nuclear power industry. I just don't see the application any more by the time Australia could ramp up the expertise and PR to be useful. Olympic Dam still has to produce the stuff, so might as well sell it. It's mixed in with the copper, so it is either refined and sold, or kept hanging round as radioactive waste once the copper, silver and gold have been removed.

[Nort]

Negative Nancy strikes again.

As of October 2020, nuclear power usage is increasing globally. There's over 50 reactors/plants being built at the moment in over a dozen countries.
Plants are being upgraded and life cycles of plants being extended.
Work on new types of reactors is continuing around the world.

But this guy thinks we shouldn't get involved...because "its too late".

This is how "too late" it is..There's going to be 154 reactors shutting down by 2040..but 289 new reactors will be coming online. Too late he says.

We didn't send a man to the moon, the Americans did..why don't we stop wasting time with space and shut down the space agency and all related industry. That's basically your logic.

Can a local nuclear power generator produce power more cheaply and in less time than the current strategies?

If so great, I'd love to see your numbers.

[claybro]

Negative Nancy strikes again.

As of October 2020, nuclear power usage is increasing globally. There's over 50 reactors/plants being built at the moment in over a dozen countries.
Plants are being upgraded and life cycles of plants being extended.
Work on new types of reactors is continuing around the world.

But this guy thinks we shouldn't get involved...because "its too late".

This is how "too late" it is..There's going to be 154 reactors shutting down by 2040..but 289 new reactors will be coming online. Too late he says.

We didn't send a man to the moon, the Americans did..why don't we stop wasting time with space and shut down the space agency and all related industry. That's basically your logic.

Can a local nuclear power generator produce power more cheaply and in less time than the current strategies?

If so great, I'd love to see your numbers.

It works both ways. How many billions have been spent on wind and solar in the last 20 years? What is the lifespan of all the renewables put in place to now? What is the replacement cost of this in comparison over say 50 years with nuclear? Is the cost of backup included in the cost of the renewable plant and equipment ? I have no idea, but I suspect most people here don't either, and it may not be as one sided as you have been led to believe.

[SBD]

Negative Nancy strikes again.

As of October 2020, nuclear power usage is increasing globally. There's over 50 reactors/plants being built at the moment in over a dozen countries.
Plants are being upgraded and life cycles of plants being extended.
Work on new types of reactors is continuing around the world.

But this guy thinks we shouldn't get involved...because "its too late".

This is how "too late" it is..There's going to be 154 reactors shutting down by 2040..but 289 new reactors will be coming online. Too late he says.

We didn't send a man to the moon, the Americans did..why don't we stop wasting time with space and shut down the space agency and all related industry. That's basically your logic.

Can a local nuclear power generator produce power more cheaply and in less time than the current strategies?

If so great, I'd love to see your numbers.

It works both ways. How many billions have been spent on wind and solar in the last 20 years? What is the lifespan of all the renewables put in place to now? What is the replacement cost of this in comparison over say 50 years with nuclear? Is the cost of backup included in the cost of the renewable plant and equipment ? I have no idea, but I suspect most people here don't either, and it may not be as one sided as you have been led to believe.

Follow the money...

Alinta Energy shut down Playford B and Northern power stations. It has approval to build a gas turbine power station at Reeves Plains. It has not been approved by the Alinta Board.

AGL is closing down part of Torrens Island Power Station, and has replaced it with fast-start gas reciprocating engines at Barker Inlet. AGL also gets electricity from the Wattle Point and Hallett wind farms.

The companies that stand to make the most from cheap generation are not pushing for nuclear, or new coal power stations.

[PeFe]

This is from last week but still worth posting

South Australia signs supply deal for Playford big battery and Cultana solar farm


An artist's impression of the Playford big battery.


The South Australia state government has signed a new 10-year supply deal for its electricity needs that will pave the way for the construction of the Playford big battery near Port Augusta and the state’s biggest solar farm at Cultana near Whyalla.

The 10-year contract – which was put out for tender again after the failure of the Aurora solar thermal project to obtain finance – has been awarded to the Ross Garnaut-led Zen Energy, which in turn will tap into the big solar and battery projects that will be delivered by its former shareholder, Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance.

The 280MW Cultana solar farm – to be built by 2022 – will be the biggest in the state, overtaking the 220MW Bungala facility located not far away near Port Augusta. The 100MW/100MWh Playford big battery – to be completed by 2023 – will be the second biggest in the state, and is located close to where the brown coal generator of the same name was once located.

South Australia no longer has any coal generation, and the Liberal state government intends to reduce gas fired generation to a minimum level through its goal of “net 100 per cent” renewables by 2030. It already sources more than 57 per cent of its local demand from wind and solar, and has foreshadowed increasing its wind and solar capacity six-fold if three large hydrogen hubs go ahead.

Both the Cultana solar farm and the Playford big battery are being developed by GFG to supply the Whyalla Steelworks that Gupta bought out of bankruptcy several years ago, with a view to transform the operations into a major “green steel” hub.

The terms of the deal with the South Australia government indicates that Cultana and Playford will supply both the steelworks and the South Australia government, with Zen also to drawn down on other contracted output within its current and future portfolio.

“This is a landmark contract for ZEN Energy’s business, building on other recent announcements for long term renewable energy supply contracts and reinforces the ability for renewable energy to supply customers with clean affordable energy solutions,” Garnaut said in a statement.

The South Australia state government says the new projects, worth $660 million, will create more than 800 jobs in the construction phase, and the contract (which came into effect on Sunday, November 1), will also lower the cost of electricity to the state government by around $12.8 million.

“This is a great outcome for taxpayers, for jobs, for power prices and for grid security,” state energy minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan said in a statement. “It’s a big solar farm and a big battery, with big savings for taxpayers, creating a big jobs number.”

“This new contract will allow ZEN Energy to grow its business customer base, enter the residential retail market and improve both the security and reliability of the grid with the state’s 5th grid scale battery.

“Once operational, these new assets will have a positive impact on competition in South Australia and deliver emissions reductions and price reductions, saving SA households $10 on average on their electricity bills, on top of the $158 average reduction in our first two years in Government.”

The state already hosts the original Tesla big battery, now the expanded Hornsdale Power Reserve (150MW/94MWh), along with the Lake Bonny battery (25MW, 50MWh), and the Dalrymple North battery (30MW, 8MWh). Another 10MW/10MWh battery has been built next to the Lincoln Gap wind project but has yet to be commissioned.

The then South Australia Labor government surprised many observers when it signed a long term deal in 2017 with the proposed 110MW Aurora solar thermal project near Port Augusta, using a solar tower and molten salt combination.

But the deal fell over because project developer SolarReserve was unable to land finance for the technology, despite the offer of $100 million from the federal government through ARENA, and SolarReserve later went bankrupt after the contract for its flagship Crescent Dunes project in Nevada was cancelled by local authorities.

Van Holst Pellekaan said once operational, these new assets will have a positive impact on competition in South Australia and deliver emissions reductions and price reductions, saving SA households $10 on average on their electricity bills.

The comparison, however, is with the current arrangements for the state government, not with the failed contract signed with SolarReserve. The pricing details of the deal with Zen will remain confidential.

GFG said in a statement that it is excited to deliver both Cultana Solar Farm and Playford Utility Battery, which it said will deliver clean and cost effective energy solutions for GFG, the South Australian Government and potentially other end-use customers.

“The Cultana Solar Farm and Playford Utility Battery will employ up to 800 workers, including apprentices that will be able to take their skills beyond these projects to both achieve the SA Government’s target of 100% Renewables by 2030 as well as the GFG Alliance’s plans for emissions free steel production at Whyalla by 2030.”

Zen Energy recently split its shareholding links from GFG and its Simec Energy offshoot but the two companies agreed to work together where possible. Zen has also landed a contract to deliver 100 per cent renewable energy supply to the CSIRO and its major buildings.

https://reneweconomy.com.au/south-austr ... arm-17698/

And the South Australian government have added more money to the home battery scheme.

https://onestepoffthegrid.com.au/south- ... -for-buck/

[PeFe]

AGL have confirmed plans to go ahead with a big battery on Torrens Island next to their gas plants.

250mwh is supposed to be the capacity but the maximum output is unknown.

From Renew Economy

AGL to build Australia’s longest duration big battery in South Australia


The Dalrymple battery in South Australia.

AGL, the country’s biggest coal generator and biggest polluter, on Saturday a announced that it is to build a massive 250MW big battery in South Australia, with four hours of storage, making it the longest duration big battery to be built in Australia.

Importantly, the battery will be built at the site of the ageing Torrens Island gas generator, which is to due to close within a few years once a new transmission link in built from South Australia to NSW, and as more renewables and grid-scale batteries displace gas generation in the supply of bulk energy and key grid services.

The significance of this battery is the four hours of storage, the first in Australia, which suggests that AGL now sees batteries as competitive with gas generators to meet peak demand periods, and to operate primarily to shift the supply of wind and solar to when it is needed most.

Other batteries – such as the original Tesla big battery at Hornsdale, and the newly unveiled Victorian big battery near Geelong – have focused on providing grid services, so only required a short duration in storage.

The big battery at Torrens Island is just the latest in a series of important big battery announcements around the country, including the bigger (but shorter duration) 300MW/450MW Victorian big battery, two new batteries in Canberra, and NSW government support for four new big batteries in that state. The Northern Territory has also started the tender for the Darwin big battery.

AGL plans to roll out 850MW of energy storage across the National Electricity Market by 2023/24, which includes its previously announced 200MW of big battery installations with two hours storage with Maoneng, a 100MW/150MWh battery at Wandoan in Queensland, and a big battery – possibly as big as 500MW – at the soon to be closed Liddell coal fired power station.

“With more renewable generation than any other state, South Australia has been a leading contributor to Australia’s low-emissions future,” AGL chief executive Brett Redman said in a statement.

(South Australia leads the world with 57 per cent contribution from wind and solar in the last 12 months, and the state Liberal government has a target of net 100 per cent renewables by 2030, which the state is likely to reach well before then).

“Wind generation is a major source of energy in South Australia and to ensure its reliability AGL is committed to delivering more firming capacity, last year opening the AGL Barker Inlet Power Station.

“This battery is another step in the state’s energy transition while at the same time allowing a rapid response to changes in renewable generation when our customers and communities need it.”

AGL already operates the smaller 30MW/8MWh Dalrymple North big battery in South Australia, which has a specific task of providing grid services and back-up power and an “islanding” capability on the Yorke Peninsula.

The other big batteries in South Australia include the original Tesla big battery at the Hornsdale Power Reserve (now expanded to 150MW/194MWg), which is focused mostly on grid services and some storage, and the 25MW/52MWh Lake Bonney big battery. The small 10MW/10MWh battery at the Lincoln Gap wind farm will be commissioned next year.

Redman, who has previously hailed the “dawn of the battery age”, said it was clear that batteries would make a significant contribution to a renewables dominated grid.

“We know in order to achieve this target, investment in large scale energy storage like grid-scale batteries is critical,” Redman said. “We also know this is a future South Australians are also committed to achieving and we believe batteries will play a leading role in this transition.”

South Australia is to allow the Torrens Island battery to be fast tracked by granting a planning exemption at the site.

“The battery will help in our efforts to restore the South Australian grid to strength as it is located at a key location in our grid and will help SA meet our aspiration of net-100% renewable energy,” said energy minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan.

“Big batteries are a key part of our strategy alongside the SA-NSW Interconnector and our home battery roll-out to strengthen our grid and deliver further savings for South Australian households and businesses.

There is still some work to be done before a final investment decision is made. This includes the finalisation of contracts and approvals.

https://reneweconomy.com.au/agl-to-buil ... lia-30655/

And the same subject matter from the ABC but with no more clarity on the actual operating size of the battery.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-14/ ... d/12883924

[PD2/20]

AGL have confirmed plans to go ahead with a big battery on Torrens Island next to their gas plants.

250mwh is supposed to be the capacity but the maximum output is unknown.

From Renew Economy

AGL to build Australia’s longest duration big battery in South Australia

...

AGL, the country’s biggest coal generator and biggest polluter, on Saturday a announced that it is to build a massive 250MW big battery in South Australia, with four hours of storage, making it the longest duration big battery to be built in Australia.

...

The significance of this battery is the four hours of storage, the first in Australia, which suggests that AGL now sees batteries as competitive with gas generators to meet peak demand periods, and to operate primarily to shift the supply of wind and solar to when it is needed most.

...

https://reneweconomy.com.au/agl-to-buil ... lia-30655/

And the same subject matter from the ABC but with no more clarity on the actual operating size of the battery.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-14/ ... d/12883924

The Renew Economy article does give the operating size of the battery in the form of the discharge capacity of 250MW and the storage duration of 4 hours. Thus it will have a 250MW/1000MWh rating which compares with the 150W/194MWh of Hornsdale. The rating of 250MW is greater than the generating capacity 210MW of the new Barker Island station or the 200MW of a single Torrens Island B unit.

To date the various batteries operating in Australia have only about 1 hr storage duration.

[PeFe]

There are no 1000mwh batteries in the world at the moment and the only serious proposal to build one is in California....after a much smaller battery on the same site is built first.

I doubt the Torrens Island battery will be pumping out 250 mw at a time......that has to be the capacity.

Like I said neither article states the exact specifications of this battery.

[PeFe]

Renew Economy have changed their headline regarding the large AGL battery proposal on Torrens Island.....it now says...........

AGL sets new storage benchmark with 1,000MWh big battery in South Australia

However further into the article it still states

The big battery at Torrens Island is just the latest in a series of important big battery announcements around the country, including the bigger (but shorter duration) 300MW/450MW Victorian big battery, two new batteries in Canberra, and NSW government support for four new big batteries in that state.

That is a contradiction saying the Victorian battery will be bigger.

The ABC have also updated their story, still saying capacity will be 250 mwh.

[PeFe]

Origin Energy is proposing a solar farm near Morgan.

Origin moves forward on 300MW solar and battery project in South Australia




Origin Energy has submitted plans to build a two-stage, 300MW solar and battery storage project near Morgan in the Riverland Region of South Australia.

In an application to the State Commission Assessment Panel last week, Origin said it was seeking consent for Stage 1 of the project, which would install up to 150MW (120MWac) of solar and 30MW battery storage of no specified duration.

The gen-tailer, which has recently included Molong in its project pipeline map, said it bought the ex-grazing land proposed for the project last year, and it will be situated some 6km to the north-east of the Mid Murray Council town of Morgan and to the north of the Goyder Highway.

South Australia already operates at around 57 per cent wind and solar (share of state demand), but a number of big wind and solar projects, including Morgan, Goyder South and Iberdrola’s Port Augusta renewable hub and the second and third stages of the Lincoln Gap wind farm propel the state towards the Liberal government’s net 00 per cent renewable energy target.



The proposed development would install solar panels across around 171 hectares of the land, as well as an operations centre that would include a control room, an operations shed, a switchboard and substation, and the 30MW BESS on another approximately 2.5 hectares.

Origin said that at peak construction, Stage 1 of the project would likely employ between 200-300 people over two years and then, during operation, would employ 5-10 people alongside part-time contractors for specialist electrical work, module cleaning and other maintenance.

On Stage 2, the development application said Origin had become aware of the possibility for a second component of the solar and battery project after its original investigations into the project.

This part of the project would connect via the proposed SA-NSW interconnector (Energy Connect), but Origin said it would seek planning approval separately “when the technical requirements [were] clearer.”



In comments to the Adelaide Advertiser, Mid Murry Council mayor Dave Burgess showed support for the project, which he said could deliver an economic boost to the region.

“We look forward to helping provide accommodation and local tradies and labour … (and) working with the developer if it’s approved,” Burgess said.

“These sorts of things will bring new skills into our district and that’s always helpful. We’ve had growth within the region with different irrigation projects happening, and we’re always looking for other opportunities.”

For Origin, the new project follows a fairly quiet spell in renewables development, and the recent suggestion that a pause on investments in new wind, solar and storage projects could continue in an environment of unclear, or unstable, policy.

The advice came in August as Origin reported a stable operating profit of $1.023 billion for the 2019-20 financial year, but found its net earnings almost entirely wiped out by write-downs the company announced on the value of two of its gas projects.

https://reneweconomy.com.au/origin-move ... lia-50112/

[PeFe]

Update on the 1414 Port Augusta project.

From InnovationAus

1414 Degrees and progress of solar thermal storage

Energy storage development company 1414 Degrees has accelerated development of its long-awaited Aurora Solar Energy Project at Port Augusta in South Australia.

Following an oversubscribed share purchase plan which raised $3.1 million, the company announced project managers and engineering firms were proceeding with design of a substation and advancing a transmission connection agreement for a planned first stage.

Key equipment suppliers have been selected for the major components comprising solar PV, batteries, inverters and power management system.


1414 Degrees: Energy stored as latent heat via solar produced molten silicon

However this is a modest 70MW of PV with a 70MW/70MWh battery system (BESS), and not the company’s proprietary Thermal Energy Storage System (TESS) which is now planned for 2023.

The TESS system, which has been installed and operated with biogas at an installation at SA Water’s Glenelg Wastewater Treatment Plant in Adelaide, stores energy as latent heat in molten silicon, releasing it on demand.

1414 Degrees announced that financial modelling is underway to determine the most advantageous business case for interoperation of the PV and BESS, followed by 1414 Degrees TESS.

The Port Augusta project has been a troubled one with the original owner Solar Reserve Australia unable to finance its plans and selling to 1414 Degrees for a nominal sum.

https://www.innovationaus.com/1414-degr ... l-storage/

[mattblack]

Australia’s first grid-scale vanadium flow battery to be built in South Australia

1MWh installation of Invinity vanadium flow batteries in Iowa, US, 2019. Source: Invinity Energy
Australia’s first utility-scale vanadium flow battery is to be built in South Australia and will demonstrate the potential for medium duration battery energy storage on the national grid.

The $20.3 million project, which is being developed by Yadlamalka Energy near Hawker in South Australia, will co-locate a 2MW/8MWh vanadium flow battery with a 6MW solar array at the Neuroodla electricity substation.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency said on Friday it has granted $5.7 million in funding to support the installation of the battery component of the project, which is being supplied by UK-based Invinity Energy via a contract awarded last month.

Yadlamalka Energy – an entity founded by former senior McKinsey analyst Andrew Doman and named after his Port Augusta sheep and cattle station of the same name – says the project aims to supply a combination of services to the grid, including time-shifting power from midday to peak periods, and boosting stability via the Frequency Control Ancillary Services (FCAS) market.

To this end, Habitat Energy, a partner in the project, will use its proprietary optimisation platform that predicts electricity prices for every five minute auction period based on weather forecasting of renewable energy availability and machine learning models of supply and demand.

Vanadium flow battery systems, while larger and less nimble than their lithium-ion brethren, have various key advantages over other chemistries, including longer-duration energy storage capacities and a non-degrading asset with virtually zero capacity loss over the lifetime of the asset (25-years).

As Yadlamalka Energy notes on its website, the battery technology shares many key pumped hydro storage characteristics, but with the additional benefit of sub-second response to external signals, enabling it to tap into FCAS markets.

Another key benefit in often harsh Australian environments like Port Augusta, is the zero fire risk. And the vanadium electrolytes can be reused when the battery is no longer needed.

For ARENA, the technology holds particular interest, having been identified by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), as well as in the federal government’s first Low Emissions Technology Statement, as a potentially scalable and flexible solution for medium-duration storage.

“The strong uptake of variable renewable energy like solar PV and wind has highlighted the need for increased energy storage and vanadium flow batteries could play a major role in addressing this need, complementing the role of more established technologies such as pumped hydro energy storage and lithium ion batteries in the Australian market,” said ARENA CEO Darren Miller on Friday.

“We look forward to working with Yadlamalka Energy on this exciting project to demonstrate the benefits of flow batteries connected to the grid, particularly the ability to shift the dispatch of renewable energy into the evening when consumer demand is highest.”

Andrew Doman, the chair and founder of Yadlamalka said ARENA’s contribution to the project was critical to its ability to proceed.

“Yadlamalka Energy is committed to developing renewable technology solutions to enable a sustainable energy future,” Doman said.

“This project will provide vital support for the electricity grid in South Australia, which relies heavily on intermittent renewable energy sources, leaving it vulnerable to unexpected changes in sunshine and wind.”

Invinity said the system would comprise 41 ‘Invinity VS3’ flow batteries, and was expected to be delivered during the second half of 2021, subject to planning permission.

“Time and again, Australia has shown leadership in the adoption of game-changing energy technologies, and Yadlamalka Energy’s and ARENA’s joint vision for this project is right in line with that impressive history,” said Invinity CEO Larry Zulch on Friday.

“Vanadium flow batteries are increasingly recognised as a robust, reliable and proven way of making renewable energy truly dispatchable at grid scale. We look forward to working with Yadlamalka Energy and ARENA on this latest example of Australian energy leadership.”

https://reneweconomy.com.au/australias- ... lia-57078/

[PeFe]

First grid scale vanadium battery (The Tesla big battery is lithium-ion) to be installed at a sheep fam near Port Augusta.

From Renew Economy

Australia’s first grid-scale vanadium flow battery to be built in South Australia


1MWh installation of Invinity vanadium flow batteries in Iowa, US, 2019. Source: Invinity Energy


Australia’s first utility-scale vanadium flow battery is to be built in South Australia and will demonstrate the potential for medium duration battery energy storage on the national grid.

The $20.3 million project, which is being developed by Yadlamalka Energy near Hawker in South Australia, will co-locate a 2MW/8MWh vanadium flow battery with a 6MW solar array at the Neuroodla electricity substation.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency said on Friday it has granted $5.7 million in funding to support the installation of the battery component of the project, which is being supplied by UK-based Invinity Energy via a contract awarded last month.

Yadlamalka Energy – an entity founded by former senior McKinsey analyst Andrew Doman and named after his Port Augusta sheep and cattle station of the same name – says the project aims to supply a combination of services to the grid, including time-shifting power from midday to peak periods, and boosting stability via the Frequency Control Ancillary Services (FCAS) market.

To this end, Habitat Energy, a partner in the project, will use its proprietary optimisation platform that predicts electricity prices for every five minute auction period based on weather forecasting of renewable energy availability and machine learning models of supply and demand.

Vanadium flow battery systems, while larger and less nimble than their lithium-ion brethren, have various key advantages over other chemistries, including longer-duration energy storage capacities and a non-degrading asset with virtually zero capacity loss over the lifetime of the asset (25-years).

As Yadlamalka Energy notes on its website, the battery technology shares many key pumped hydro storage characteristics, but with the additional benefit of sub-second response to external signals, enabling it to tap into FCAS markets.

Another key benefit in often harsh Australian environments like Port Augusta, is the zero fire risk. And the vanadium electrolytes can be reused when the battery is no longer needed.

For ARENA, the technology holds particular interest, having been identified by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), as well as in the federal government’s first Low Emissions Technology Statement, as a potentially scalable and flexible solution for medium-duration storage.

“The strong uptake of variable renewable energy like solar PV and wind has highlighted the need for increased energy storage and vanadium flow batteries could play a major role in addressing this need, complementing the role of more established technologies such as pumped hydro energy storage and lithium ion batteries in the Australian market,” said ARENA CEO Darren Miller on Friday.

“We look forward to working with Yadlamalka Energy on this exciting project to demonstrate the benefits of flow batteries connected to the grid, particularly the ability to shift the dispatch of renewable energy into the evening when consumer demand is highest.”

Andrew Doman, the chair and founder of Yadlamalka said ARENA’s contribution to the project was critical to its ability to proceed.

“Yadlamalka Energy is committed to developing renewable technology solutions to enable a sustainable energy future,” Doman said.

“This project will provide vital support for the electricity grid in South Australia, which relies heavily on intermittent renewable energy sources, leaving it vulnerable to unexpected changes in sunshine and wind.”

Invinity said the system would comprise 41 ‘Invinity VS3’ flow batteries, and was expected to be delivered during the second half of 2021, subject to planning permission.

“Time and again, Australia has shown leadership in the adoption of game-changing energy technologies, and Yadlamalka Energy’s and ARENA’s joint vision for this project is right in line with that impressive history,” said Invinity CEO Larry Zulch on Friday.

“Vanadium flow batteries are increasingly recognised as a robust, reliable and proven way of making renewable energy truly dispatchable at grid scale. We look forward to working with Yadlamalka Energy and ARENA on this latest example of Australian energy leadership.”

https://reneweconomy.com.au/australias- ... lia-57078/

[PeFe]

The CSIRO has issued a report comparing the cost of generating electricity from various sources in the years 2020 and 2050.
Solar, wind, coal, gas, nuclear.....they are all in there.

I have a few disagreements with the numbers ie small nuclear at only $140 in 2050....C'mon from what I have read nuclear costs decrease the larger you make the plant ie a large 2000mw nuclear plant (like Hinkley Point C in the UK) will be selling power at $186 per mwh wholesale whilst the 2016 Royal Commission into the SA nuclear fuel cycle indicated a small nuclear plant would cost SA taxpayers $238 per kwh wholesale (and that is 2016 prices! not 2050 prices!)

The CSIRO have the cost of gas at $70-$120 in 2020....well I can tell you that is not what South Australia pays.
Pre covid wholesale gas prices were $100 per mwh for older gas plants and around $150 for the new Barkers Inlet. These prices are no longer that high due to falling demand, the cost of wholesale gas (just the gas itself) has apparently fallen 50% in six months. How much that brings down wholesale prices (33%) is hard to tell because this sort of information is harder to find out.......renewable prices are splashed all over the internet for anyone to see whilst the fossil fuel industry does not like to disclose the cost of production.

The CSIRO has wind at $50-$70 per mwh in 2020.....sorry but Neoen just concluded a contract with the ACT government to sell at $45 per mwh.
The CSIRO report is already looking outdated.......and wind should be priced in 2 different categories onshore and offshore. Important price difference there ($50 per mwh for onshore and approx $90-95 for offshore in 2020 prices)

Also the report ignores large batteries.....how can you ignore large batteries in 2020?
Currently around $190 per mwh.....forecast to fall 10% every year for the next five years, certainly headed to below gas cost by 2025 (hence the rush to build large batteries everywhere in the next few years rather than gas peakers)

And the report says solar in 2050 will be $30 per mwh, well I have seen other reports saying solar will be $30 In 2030....what if the price keeps falling solar in 2050 could be $20 per mwh.

Anyway here is the report, sourced from Dynamicbusiness.com.au

Renewables the cheapest new-build power in Australia: CSIRO



A new CSIRO report GenCost 2020-21 has found that solar and wind are the cheapest source of energy in Australia based on integration costs of renewables in electricity generation.

“Previous GenCost reports added arbitrary amounts of storage costs, but this year we used a model of the electricity system that optimises the amount of storage needed, and also includes additional transmission expenditure,”said CSIRO Chief Energy Economist Paul Graham.

“Even taking into account these extra system integration costs, solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind continue to be the cheapest new sources of electricity for any expected share of renewables in the grid — anywhere from 50 per cent to 100 per cent.

“This is projected to continue to be the case throughout the projection period to 2050.”

The report is a collaboration between CSIRO and the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), where industry stakeholders provide estimates of electricity generation and storage costs for new power plants in Australia.

The analysis found that:

Solar PV and batteries will experience the fastest cost reduction of any energy technology
Battery cost reductions have been achieved through deployment in industries other than electricity, such as consumer electronics and electric vehicles
Hydrogen electrolysers are projected to experience substantial cost reductions, making them competitive with natural gas-based hydrogen production
Wind capital costs are falling more slowly than solar but will continue to make gains by capturing more energy from the same wind resources
Cost reductions, such as carbon capture and storage, nuclear small modular reactors, solar thermal and ocean energy, are not being widely deployed and require stronger global investment




The report uses the levelised cost of energy (LCOE) to conclude that renewables are the cheapest source of energy.

LCOE is a metric that is used to compare the cost of electricity generation technologies, determining their relative competitiveness.





The final GenCost report is due in March 2021 and so industry and stakeholders will be able to review the data for consultation.

“Electricity generation costs are a key ingredient into the electricity sector modelling which underpins much of the sector’s strategic planning and policy analysis, including our Integrated System Plan,” said AEMO Group Manager Nicola Falcon.

“Given the importance of this cost data, we are providing an opportunity for industry and other stakeholders to review the data as part of our Draft Inputs, Assumptions and Scenarios Report published today (available from 10am AEST) for consultation.”

https://dynamicbusiness.com.au/featured ... csiro.html

[PeFe]

Renewable energy in South Australia has reached 60% of the electricity supply.

Ronald Brakels from the SolarQuotes blog gives an overview.
Interesting fact : 6% of electricity produced in the 2019/20 year went to Victoria. My guess is that percentage has only gone up in the last six months.

Renewables Now 60% Of South Australian Electricity Generation



The 21st century has brought radical change to South Australian electricity generation. Eighteen years ago SA had the least renewable energy in the country thanks to hydroelectricity being a tough sell in a location as dry as a Sao biscuit and twice as flat.

But that didn’t stop South Australia going from a single 150 kilowatt wind turbine and a handful of solar panels to become a world leader in renewable energy, with more than 60% of its generation now coming from wind and solar power.

Last month the South Australian Electricity Report for 2020 was published by the AEMO, which are the mob in charge of keeping our electricity grids ticking over. I read through the whole thing — except for the parts I didn’t — and found it was full of interesting information on the state’s ongoing transformation to net zero-carbon generation.

I’ll summarize the most interesting points in the report in this article, but on account of my sunny disposition, I’ll particularly focus on solar power, despite the bulk of the state’s clean electricity generation currently coming from wind.

Positive Points From Report
The report states that in South Australia during the 2019-20 financial year:

Total electricity generation increased 0.6%, but there was a pandemic related 1% drop in per capita consumption.
The state’s generation was 59.6% renewable: 42.9% wind and 16.7% solar energy.
For one hour on 11 October, solar energy generation was enough to meet the state’s entire consumption.
33% of SA homes now have rooftop solar panels.
Rooftop solar provided 11.6% of generation.
By June 30th 2020 rooftop solar capacity totalled 1,417 megawatts. A 27% increase from 12 months earlier.
Approximately 6,000 home and business batteries were installed, bringing the total to around 17,000.
Net electricity exports to Victoria were 6% of electricity generation.
Plans for an interconnector between SA and NSW moved closer to approval.
I’ll go into more detail on these points below, but first I’m afraid I must reveal it’s not all good news.

Problematic Points From Report
Getting South Australia to a point where wind and solar are over 60% of generation has provided plenty of challenges. There are problems involved with integrating energy from large scale wind and solar farms as well as from rooftops. Rather than go into the multitudinous problems in great detail, I’ll merely mention two major ones:

Declining grid stability.
Limited transmission capacity.
While some people moan and groan about the grid’s growing pains as it accepts more renewable energy, the challenges of greening the grid are a lot easier to deal with than global warming causing even worse bushfires or simmering the oceans into rotting soup.

Per Capita Consumption Down 1%
Electricity production is down around the world thanks to the pandemic, but in Australia the fall has only been a couple of percent. South Australia appears to buck the trend as electricity generation in 2019-20 rose 0.6%. But because electricity exports to Victoria increased, state electricity consumption actually fell by 0.3%. Allowing for typical annual population increase, South Australia’s per capita electricity consumption fell 1%.

While this will mostly have been due to the pandemic related economic slowdown, some will be from improving energy efficiency, and weather will also have had an effect.

Wind & Solar Now Over 60% Of Generation
In 2019-20 renewables supplied 59.6% of all electricity generation. As net electricity exports were equal to 2.8% of generation it means the state generated renewable energy equal to 61.3% of its total consumption.

The renewable generation was almost entirely wind and solar power. While there is an itty bitty baby hydroelectric generator attached to the grid, its output is basically a rounding error as it produces as much energy as half a 3 megawatt wind turbine. The percentage of electricity generation supplied by the two serious sources were:

Wind: 42.9%
Solar: 16.7%
Because the figure of 59.6% renewable generation was the total for the 2019-20 financial year that ended 5 months ago and solar capacity has continued to expand since then, I now officially announce1 that South Australia’s electricity generation is over 60% renewable.

Solar Energy Generation Up 35%
Solar is by far South Australia’s fastest-growing source of electricity supply. Its output in 2019-20 increased 35% from the year before.

The AEMO now divides solar generation into 3 categories. Most people know the first two:

Rooftop PV: These are solar panels on the roofs of homes and businesses. Despite the name, a small portion is mounted on the ground.
Solar: While the name may make you think this category refers to all solar, it’s actually only large solar farms with hundreds of thousands of panels.
The AEMO also has a third category that’s between these two:

PVNSG: This stands for PV Non-Scheduled Generation2 and covers smaller solar farms that are above 100 kilowatts but not large enough to fit into their solar category. These modest solar farms can be several megawatts in capacity and are usually installed by large companies to directly offset their grid electricity consumption. This is the fastest-growing category.
The percentage of electricity generation supplied by each in 2019-20 and how much their capacity grew over that year was:

Rooftop PV: Supplied 11.6% of generation and grew 20.9%.
PVNSG: Supplied 1.8% of generation and grew a whopping 138.9%.
Solar: Large scale solar farms supplied 3.3% of generation and grew 60.1%
Fossil Fuel Generation Down 8.8%
Fossil fuel based electricity generation, which is over 99% natural gas in South Australia, fell 8.8% from the previous year and provided 43.3% of generation in 2019-20. The now low cost of solar power means this is going to occur around the world, so the idea of a natural gas led economic recovery is as nutty as a Nutella sandwich that uses peanut butter brittle for bread.

Battery Capacity Expanding
In the report, battery storage is classified as a supply source. If this seems odd to you — good! Because there are unavoidable losses when charging and discharging, batteries will always provide less energy than what is put into them. But because they can act like a dispatchable power station and supply power on demand, I can see why they’re on the table.

While they suck up more energy than they spit out, because they suck when it’s convenient for the grid and spit energy when it’s most needed, they’re beneficial things to have around. While in 2019-20 battery storage only supplied stored energy equal to 0.32% of total generation, the AEMO expects battery capacity to rapidly increase.

Over 2019-20 roughly 6,000 home and business batteries were installed in South Australia, bringing the total to around 17,000. That was a 35% increase. The AEMO estimates the amount will triple to about 50,000 by 2025. If 90% of the batteries are residential, that’s 1 in every 15 homes.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Down
In just 7 years South Australia halved greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation. This graph shows them falling from 600 grams of CO23 per kilowatt-hour to 290 grams:



Committed New Supply is 100% Renewable
Committed new supply refers to grid generation projects almost certain to go ahead. At the moment they’re all renewable. New capacity that will be completed by March 2022 in South Australia consists of:

296 megawatts of new wind power.
87 megawatts of new solar farms.
Note these figures don’t include rooftop solar power and smaller-scale solar farms (PVNSG in AEMO speak.)

Prospective New Supply Is 87% Renewable
Proposed projects that are iffy on whether or not they’ll actually go ahead are called prospective new supply, and these projects are 87% renewable by capacity. While this percentage may seem impressive, it was 91% before the pandemic caused some projects to be cancelled and lowered the cost of gas and diesel. Despite this temporary reverse, the trend is clear. Thanks to the falling cost of renewables and energy storage soon no one will want to build new fossil fuel capacity.

The total prospective new supply as of November 2020 in South Australia is…

Gas: 803.2 megawatts
Diesel: 154 megawatts
Solar: 2,783 megawatts
Wind: 3,623.4 megawatts
Note this doesn’t include rooftop and small scale solar farms (PVNSG).

Big Batteries May Be Built
In addition to the large number of home and business batteries expected to be installed, larger-scale projects are likely to go ahead in South Australia.

Committed battery projects are relatively small and consist of two Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) making use of home batteries:

SA Government VPP with 5 megawatts of power and 13.5 megawatt-hours energy storage.
The Simply Energy VPP with 6 megawatts of power and 16 megawatt-hours energy storage.
But if an interconnector to NSW is built then the massive Goyder South Hub battery is also likely to go ahead. This will have 900 megawatts of power and 1,800 megawatt-hours of energy storage. This is enough to supply more than one-quarter of South Australia’s maximum grid demand for up to two hours.

When all the prospective new supply for larger-scale battery projects are added together it comes to 1,567.6 megawatts of proposed battery capacity. While a figure for energy storage capacity wasn’t given, it would be well over 2,500 megawatt-hours.

SA To NSW Interconnector Likely
Project EnergyConnect is a plan to build an 875 km transmission line between South Australia and New South Wales. It’s estimated to lower electricity bills per household in South Australia by around $100 and $61 in NSW. Because there are four and a half times as many people in NSW that state actually gets the most benefit.

Despite recently bumping up the estimated cost from $2 billion to $2.5 billion, it’s very likely the interconnector will go ahead because interest rates are extremely low and are turning negative for the federal government. This means the interconnector only has to earn back around as much money as it costs to build to be a worthwhile investment. Because it will allow increasing renewable capacity to be more easily integrated into the grid and reduce fossil fuel use, it will have benefits beyond lower electricity bills.

Renewable Expansion Faces Challenges
The expansion of renewable generation in South Australia is wonderful because it means we’re less likely to be killed by our own pig-headed stupidity. If South Australia can rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions then other locations can also do it, which will allow humanity to limit the damage it’s causing through global warming.

But it hasn’t been all beer and skittles. South Australia has faced numerous challenges in exceeding 60% renewable generation. Fortunately — despite a large number of idiots intentionally getting in the way — the state has handled them admirably and I expect the state to continue to do so even while concurrently exceeding its idiot quota.

The reason why I expect renewable generation to continue to expand is because big companies like making money more than they like losing it. Using solar, wind, and energy storage is now generally cheaper than fossil fuel alternatives even when fossil fuel generation doesn’t have to pay for the health and environmental costs of its emissions. But just because renewables will expand doesn’t mean it won’t create problems that have to be dealt with.

Two major problems that being handled in a variety of ways are:

Reduced Grid Stability, and…
Lack of transmission capacity.
Grid Stability: To maintain grid stability the state is building large spinning devices called synchronous condensers that stabilize the grid in the same way as fossil fuel generation without the need to burn natural gas or coal. Increasing battery storage is also expected to play a major role in providing stability as it can provide power — or use it — almost instantly.

Stricter inverter standards for new South Australian rooftop solar power systems rushed in earlier this were also designed to increase grid stability. These included the capacity for remote disconnection for new solar systems. Despite some panicked people’s pessimistic and improbable prognostications, the amount of time systems are likely to spend disconnected should be almost insignificant. I expect it to average around one hour or less per year. While the way the new standards were introduced caused plenty of headaches, they will help increase the amount of power distributed solar systems can provide the grid.

Transmission Capacity: More high capacity transmission lines are likely to be built within and between states, but local transmission in towns and suburbs is also an issue. Many locations are having difficulty accepting more power from rooftop solar panels.

To allow new distributed solar to continue to be supply power to the grid a flexible export requirement is likely to be introduced for new solar inverters. This involves allowing them to export as much power as they can provide when the grid can accept it, while throttling back when it becomes a problem. This is being trialed in South Australia and will improve grid stability as well as help maintain solar energy exports from new installations.

Islanded SA Handles ~60% Renewables
South Australia’s electricity generation is now over 60% renewable. Because the state’s hydroelectricity is piddly, that’s basically all wind and solar power. This is three times the amount many insisted — without real justification — was an absolute limit just a few years ago.

In case there is any doubt a grid can handle having around 60% of its electricity generation coming from wind and solar, early this year storm damage to the Heywood interconnector caused South Australia to be islanded from the rest of the National Electricity Market from the 31st of January to the 17th of February4. It occurred in summer, which is the worst time possible as high air conditioner use strains the grid. Also, due to where the damaged occurred, South Australia had to supply power to Victorian freeloaders such as the Alcoa Portland aluminium smelter. While the AEMO doesn’t recommend repeating the experience without strengthening the grid, South Australia managed the situation without major problems.

100% Clean Electricity Not Far Off
To prevent that big reef in the ocean off Queensland becoming known as the Great Barrier Skeleton, the world needs to cut carbon dioxide emissions by a minimum of 80% over the next decade or so. Thanks to a lot of hard work by unseen armies of dedicated people who have tirelessly toiled to bring down the cost of renewable energy and storage, this has become a lot easier and South Australia is helping show the world it’s possible.

While 100% renewable generation may still be many years off, there is no reason why South Australian electricity generation can’t rapidly shift to zero net emissions over the next few years. While a considerable amount of existing gas generation may be needed for an extended time to firm the grid and meet demand when renewables and energy storage aren’t sufficient, it won’t be particularly difficult or expensive to offset South Australia’s remaining generation emissions. While estimates will vary, if we’re lucky, in a few years it may cost as little as one tenth of a cent per kilowatt-hour generated in the state. So I’m calling for zero net emission electricity generation for South Australia by the end of 2023. Wouldn’t that be great?

https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/sa- ... eneration/