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Tesla South Australia battery partnership

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A massive boon for South Australian solar today as Tesla’s Elon Musk and the South Australian government have paired with Neoen to create the world’s largest lithium-ion battery. The Tesla South Australia partnership will be a world first and comes off the back of a bunch of Twitter banter in March 2017 between Musk and various Twitter users (initially spearheaded by Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes), where he mentioned he is in discussions with the Premier about installing large scale solar in South Australia.

Tesla South Australia to create world’s biggest battery

The project will be 100MW (or 129MWh) and according to Musk on Twitter earlier in the year, it’ll be installed ‘within 100 days from contract signature or it is free’ – so we’ll be seeing the battery live and working this year! Jay Weatherill, the Premier of South Australia, was quoted as saying  “Battery storage is the future of our national energy market, and the eyes of the world will be following our leadership in this space”.

According to Nick Harmsen on Twitter, the battery will be built alongside Neoen‘s Hornsdale wind farm (currently 315MW), which is in Jamestown (mid-north South Australia). More details of the partnership coming straight from Heatherill’s office are embedded in the Tweet below:

The deputy CEO of Neoen, Romain Desrousseaux, said the project will highlight how large scale storage is now “commercially viable” and will also be able to provide “dependable, distributable power” – which was one of the main problems last year when South Australia suffered numerous lengthy blackouts, including last September when a freak storm damaged transmission lines. According to Weatherill and the ABC, the government had about 91 international bidders for the battery project, which could be used in the future to avoid load-shedding summer blackouts when electricity demand outstrips supply. Solar power (albeit as ‘energy storage’) being used to provide stability for the power grid is a new concept – and we’re very excited to see how it helps the festival state.
Elon Musk Tesla South Australia Partnership
Elon Musk announces the Tesla South Australia Partnership (source: ABC)

Tesla’s Musk was quoted today at a press conference at the Adelaide Oval as saying “It’s a fundamental efficiency improvement to the power grid, and it’s really quite necessary and quite obvious considering a renewable energy future”.

Tesla / South Australia Battery Partnership Reception

In an opinion piece for The Advertiser, Redflow CEO Simon Hackett has said South Australia’s 129 MWh Tesla project sets up the state as a world leader in battery storage. He also noted that it ‘confirms the integral role that batteries will play in the successful exploitation of renewable energy sources’.

 

 

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South Australia Renewable Energy

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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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Australian Renewable Energy Agency Solar Grants – 12 Plants Reach Financial Close in April

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Australian Renewable Energy Agency
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) have reached a significant solar milestone with their funding of PV plants in Australia. As of EOM April 2017 all 12 plants currently receiving grant funding from ARENA have reached a “financial close”. A financial close refers to the fact that all plants are fully financed with council and environmental approvals. They also have agreements in place with regards to grid connection, construction, and engineering. Nine of the plants have already begun construction and, when completed, the 12 plants will generate enough renewable energy to power 150,000 homes. All together, the 12 plants will generate 468.8MW of solar energy – and this doesn’t count at least six more plants being developed without any assistance from ARENA.

ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht noted that the total cost of plant production has decreased by 40% over the last three years. The amount of grant funding required to launch large-scale solar projects has also shrunk dramatically – from $1.60/watt three years ago to just 28c per watt in 2017. In addition to this, there are at least six PV plants in advanced stages of development that have received no funding, an indication that the industry has advanced to a level where it’s financially feasible to develop solar plants even without any government intervention and Australia is well on its way to reaching our 2020 renewable energy target (large-scale renewable energy generation of 33,000 GWh)

The 12 plants received a total of $92m in grants from ARENA – in addition to $1bn provided by private investment.

Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) Funded Solar Plants

The Solar Plants ARENA have funded and their capacity:

  1. QLD – Kidston Solar Park, 50MW
  2. QLD – Longreach Solar Park, 15MW
  3. QLD – Collinsville Solar Power Station, 42MW
  4. QLD – Oakey Solar Farm, 25MW
  5. QLD – Darling Downs Solar Farm, 106.8MW
  6. QLD – Whitsunday Solar Farm, 52.8MW
  7. NSW – White Rock Solar Farm, 20MW
  8. NSW – Dubbo Solar Hub, 22.4MW
  9. NSW – Manildra Solar Farm, 42.4MW
  10. NSW – Parkes Solar Farm, 46MW
  11. NSW – Griffith Solar Farm (Neoen), 26.4MW
  12. WA – Emu Downs Solar Farm, 20.1MW

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