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Vales Point Solar Energy Project greenlit.

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The $117m, 55MW Vales Point Solar Energy Project was greenlit by the Department of Planning today.

Vales Point Solar Energy Project

Vales Point Solar Energy Project Location
Vales Point Solar Energy Project Location

The project is going to be built by Delta (who were bidding for the Liddell power station earlier this year) and will co-exist with the coal-fired power station at Vales Point power station. Work is slated to commence early in 2019 and the solar farm will be built over 80 hectares of a rehabilitated ash dam. 

Delta Electricity Company Secretary Steve Gurney discussed the impact on the national grid:

“Delta recognises that both dispatchable power and low emission technologies have a role to play in supporting an affordable, reliable and sustainable national electricity grid” Mr Gurney said.

The Vales Point solar projet is expected to create over 100 solar jobs over the 18 months it’ll take to complete and will run for a 25 year lifespan. This will also extend the lifespan of the adjacent Vales Point power station which will now operate past its technical closure date of 2029.

Clay Preshaw, the director of Resource and Energy Assessment as the NSW Department of Planning and Environment, spoke about the farm’s potential impact on Australia’s solar future:

“This innovative project is one of the first in Australia where large-scale renewable and coal-fired energy facilities sit side by side,” Mr Preshaw said.

Vales Point Solar Energy Project Submissions

According to The Herald, the project was on public exhibition for a couple of months and 14 submissions were received. One of those was from the Lake Macquarie City Council, who support the project going ahead, but raised a concern about the impact the project may have on coastal saltmarsh:

“With the exception of the coastal saltmarsh issue, it appears that the ‘baseline’ for impact assessment is reasonable, predictions of impact are robust with suitable sensitivity testing, the assessment considers how to avoid and minimise impacts, and the proposal includes all reasonably feasible mitigation options,” the submission said.

Other than that it looks like everyone’s happy – it’ll be interesting to see how this works in unison with the coal-fired power plant and which one is more profitable!

 

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Solar Bench | Warners Bay, Lake Macquarie

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A solar bench has been installed on the Warners Bay foreshore in Lake Macquarie – it is fully self contained and can wirelessly recharge compatible phones.

Solar Bench in Lake Macquarie

Solar Bench in Lake Macquarie
Solar Bench in Lake Macquarie (source: lakesmail.com.au)

The smart solar bench was installed by the Lake Macquarie City Council and has the future capacity to act as a WiFi hotspot, according to Lakes Mail. 

Manager of community planning for the Lake Macquarie City Council, Andrew Bryant, discussed the potential future rollout of further solar benches if this one is a success:

“This is a fully self-contained unit. It provides seating for up to four adults, and solar panels beneath the transparent bench seat can produce up to 100W of electrical power every hour – enough to charge mobile phones, tablets and other smart devices,” Mr Bryant said. He went on to discuss the future of renewables and how quickly tech is coming along:

“This sort of thing would have been science fiction just a few years ago, but users with compatible phones can simply place them on a designated area of the bench to activate recharging,” Mr Bryant said.

Lastly, Mr. Bryant discussed the future-proofing the council and manufacturer have built into the bench so they’re able to upgrade it in the future:

“The internal mechanisms are designed to be upgraded depending on our future needs,” Mr Bryant said.

“We will monitor its use and the needs of the community and will make a decision on these capabilities down the track.”

We’ve reached out to the Lake Macquarie Council to ask about the brand of hte solar benches, but it appears that they’re made by European company Steora:

Back in 2017 Perth had Steora smart benches installed by Australian distributor Cleanair, who came across the tech in Croatia. GM of Cleanair, Ivan Lozic, discussed how they want to harness as much solar power as possible through unconventional means as well as panels:

“Perth has such a great solar resource, so the more we can give residents the opportunity to harness it the better,” Mr Lozic said. If you want to read more about Perth solar benches please click here.

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