10 February 2021
The shackles on large scale wind and solar farms in South Australia are about to be loosened, with the Australian Energy Market Operator flagging that the maximum amount of large scale wind and solar allowed into the grid at any one time will be lifted by around 15 per cent.
AEMO’s current operating constraints allow for no more than 1750MW of large scale wind and solar (plus rooftop solar) to be generating at any one time, and for a certain amount of gas generators (usually around 300MW) to be operating to provide essential grid services.
Those restraints are about to be relaxed, and up to 2,000MW of wind and solar to generate at any one time, because newly installed synchronous condensers that are to come on line soon will provide some of the “synchronous” system services now provided by gas generators.
5 February 2021
CEP.Energy, a company chaired by former NSW Labor premier Morris Iemma, has announced plans to build what it says will be the “world’s biggest battery” – 1,200MW – at the industrial centre of Kurri Kurri in the Hunter Valley, right where the Morrison government wants to build its own gas-fired generator.
The CEP plans follow on from the announcement last October that the company would build a network of industrial-scale rooftop solar and battery storage installations, totalling up to 1,500MW.
These plans have now been expanded to encompass grid-scale batteries, with the 1,200MW Kurri Kurri battery – there is no word yet on the storage duration – to be part of a network of four big grid-scale batteries across the country with a total capacity of 2,000MW.
Renewables Now 60% Of South Australian Electricity Generation
Renewables Now 60% Of South Australian Electricity Generation
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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.