Grids & Integration

The New South Wales Government is forging ahead with plans to bring 12 GW of renewable energy and 2 GW of storage online by 2030 with the formal declaration of Australia’s second coordinated renewable energy zone in as many months.

Long thought of as adversaries to renewable energy, fossil fuel assets and infrastructure also present opportunities for solar, its green-hydrogen output, and smart energy storage. Natalie Filatoff reports on the opportunities and approaches the miners are taking.

The first 20MW/20MWh battery energy storage system in the 470MW/470MWh portfolio Fluence is deploying for Filipino conglomerate San Miguel Corp has started serving the island nation’s electricity network.

A proposed 900-kilometre electricity interconnector that will link power grids across three Australian states, unlocking gigawatts of new wind, solar PV and storage projects has progressed further with New South Wales network operator TransGrid confirming the Environmental Impact Statement for the project’s eastern section has been submitted.

Construction of a new $2.3 billion electricity interconnector that will link the South Australian and New South Wales energy networks is expected to commence early this year following the South Australian Government’s approval of the project’s Environmental Impact Statement.

The 162MW (AC) Columboola Solar Farm in the Western Downs of Queensland between Chinchilla and Miles has been successfully connected to the transmission network. QLD government-owned CS Energy has agreed to purchase 100% of the solar farms approximately 440GWh of annual clean energy for the next 10 years.

Current price signals to distributed battery owners “do not align with grid value,” says a study from the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

Western Australia’s state-owned electricity company Horizon Power has installed 19 solar + battery standalone power systems for farmers in Esperance on the state’s southern coast.

French renewable developer IPP Neoen announced the completion of its Bulgana wind-plus-storage project in the Australian state of Victoria. Having now installed more than 650MW of large-scale solar, wind, and battery storage in the state, the developer has pointed to its “well balanced” renewable portfolio in Victoria including an additional 2GW of projects in the pipeline.

Virtual power plants have turned a corner in this country, SwitchDin founder, Andrew Mears tells pv magazine Australia. With the new technology now firmly established, we take a look at the new approaches to orchestration which will inform the next wave of distributed energy resources management.