SA Water

NSW State Government-owned water and sewage utility Hunter Water is set to join a now surging river of water utilities around Australia investing strongly in the uptake of solar PV. The announcement came with the completion of a 100 kW system at Branxton Wastewater Treatment Works.

SA Water’s highly ambitious $300 million solar uptake is proving a golden goose as a partnership with Succession Ecology to revegetate almost a tonne of native seedlings under large-scale solar arrays proves a win-win. The ground-mounted modules mean native vegetation can return to formerly agricultural land, and the native scrub itself protects PV panels from soiling.

Despite unprecedented economy-wide impacts brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, SA Water’s planned $300 million solar and energy splash in 2020 has managed to stay on track. Not only do the utility’s ambitions for a zero energy cost future remain within reach, but the utility is already planning more solar.

SA Water has bought a significant portion of land from ExxonMobil Port Stanvac oil refinery to build a large-scale solar farm to generate energy for its neighbouring Adelaide Desalination Plant. The project is part of SA Water’s $300 million investment in solar and energy storage.

Western Australia’s government-owned Water Corporation has committed $30 million over three years for solar energy projects around the state.

University of Queensland researchers have quantified the amount of on-site renewable energy generation utilised by the nation’s water industry. The results are interesting if not already anachronistic due to the rapid pace of advancement in the world of solar PV.

South Australia’s largest water and sewerage services supplier is planning to invest more than $300 million in solar and energy storage during the course of this year as it moves closer to its ambitious goal of achieving a zero cost energy future.

South Australia’s largest water and sewerage services supplier has chosen its partner to deploy approximately 154 MW of new solar PV generation and 34 MWh of energy storage, across around 70 of its sites over the next 18 months.

South Australia’s largest water and sewerage services supplier has a few utility-scale solar projects coupled with energy storage in its pipeline. Three of them are currently under consideration and scheduled to commence construction this year.

South Australia’s water utility will install a trial floating PV array on its Happy Valley Reservoir. The 100 kW system will be installed in 2018 and is a part of the utility’s plans, announced today, to reduce its net electricity costs to zero by 2020.