Broken Hill Solar Plant

Last updated

Broken Hill Solar Plant
Broken Hill solar plant aerial.jpg
Broken Hill Solar Plant
Country
  • Australia
Coordinates 31°59′S141°23′E / 31.99°S 141.39°E / -31.99; 141.39 Coordinates: 31°59′S141°23′E / 31.99°S 141.39°E / -31.99; 141.39
StatusOperational
Commission date
  • December 2015
Owner(s)
Operator(s)
Solar farm
Type
Power generation
Nameplate capacity
  • 53 MW
External links
Website www.agl.com.au/about-agl/how-we-source-energy/broken-hill-solar-plant

The Broken Hill Solar Plant, which became operational in December 2015, [1] is a 53 megawatt farm located near Broken Hill in western New South Wales, Australia. It is associated with the Nyngan Solar Plant (almost 600 km to the east), making the total capacity of the combined plants 155 megawatts.

Contents

The Australian Energy Commission sets the regulations for the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). The AEMO calculates and publishes MLFs every year by 1 April as required under clause 3.6 of the National Electricity Rules ahead of commencing on 1 July. These figures are forward-looking projections based on expectations of the demand and dispatch patterns of that upcoming year, as well as the network flows and losses that are expected to occur during that year. [2]

The Broken Hill solar plant, like other generation near the edge of the grid, has suffered from changes in marginal loss factor calculations. The 2017-18 financial year (FY) Marginal Loss Factor (MLF) of 1.2841 to 1.0603 (2018-19 FY MLF) affected revenue. [3] [4] The 2019/20 MLF was 0.8349 and the 2020/21 MLF was 0.8644. [5] On 12 September 2019, the output of the farm was reduced by 50%. [6] [7]

Powering Australian Renewables Fund

Ownership of the Nyngan and Broken Hill solar plants was transferred from AGL Energy to Powering Australian Renewables Fund (PARF), an infrastructure fund closely associated with but independent to AGL. [8]

Related Research Articles

Liddell Power Station

Liddell Power Station is a coal-powered thermal power station with four 500 megawatts (670,000 hp) GEC steam driven turbine alternators for a combined electrical capacity of 2,000 megawatts (2,700,000 hp).

Solar power in Australia Overview of solar power in Australia

Solar power in Australia is a fast growing industry. As of December 2020, Australia's over 2.66 million solar PV installations had a combined capacity of 20,198 MW photovoltaic (PV) solar power, of which at least 3,906 MW were installed in the preceding 12 months. In 2019, 59 solar PV projects with a combined capacity of 2,881 MW were either under construction, constructed or due to start construction having reached financial closure. Solar accounted for 5.2% of Australia's total electrical energy production in 2018.

Emu Downs Wind Farm

The Emu Downs Wind Farm is a 79.2 MW wind farm in Western Australia. It was a 50:50 joint development between Griffin Energy and Stanwell Corporation. The site is approximately 200 kilometres north of Perth, near Cervantes. Construction of the $180 million project commenced in November 2005, and the project was commissioned in October 2006.

The Silverton Wind Farm is a 199 megawatt wind farm situated on the Barrier Ranges in New South Wales, built for AGL Energy by CATCON and General Electric.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) performs an array of gas and electricity market, operational, development and planning functions. It manages the National Electricity Market (NEM), the Wholesale Electricity Market (WA) (WEM) and the Victorian gas transmission network. AEMO also facilitates electricity and gas full retail contestability, overseeing these retail markets in eastern and southern Australia. It is additionally responsible for national transmission planning for electricity and the establishment of a Short Term Trading Market (STTM) for gas.

The Macarthur Wind Farm is a wind farm located in Macarthur, Victoria, Australia, near Hamilton, 260 km west of Melbourne. It is on a 5,500 ha site which has an installed capacity of 420 megawatts (MW). Based on a capacity factor of around 35%, it is estimated that the long-term average generation will be approximately 1,250 GWh per year. Its actual capacity factor is much lower, with a historical average of 26.29% since 2013.

South Australia is rich in energy. It contains significant reserves of fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal, and oil – although there are incentives to phase these out in favour of clean energy. The state also contains large amounts of uranium, including the world's single biggest deposit at Olympic Dam, which represents 30% of the world's total resource.

Australian Renewable Energy Agency

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is an independent agency of the Australian federal government, established in 2012 to manage Australia's renewable energy programs, with the objective of increasing supply and competitiveness of Australian renewable energy sources.

Nyngan Solar Plant

The Nyngan Solar Plant or Farm is one of the largest operating solar plants in Australia. At the time of construction, it was the largest solar plant in the southern hemisphere. It is located 10 km west of Nyngan in western New South Wales. It is was built and is operated by AGL Energy.

Powering Australian Renewables Fund (PARF) is an Australian infrastructure investment fund closely associated with but independent from AGL Energy.

The Hornsdale Wind Farm is an electricity generator in the locality of Hornsdale in the south-west of the Narien Range, north of Jamestown, South Australia. It consists of 99 wind turbines with a generation capacity of 315 megawatts (422,000 hp). The plant is owned and operated by Neoen, a French renewable energy company.

Neoen is a renewable energy company headquartered in Paris, France. It owns and operates solar and wind farms in 13 countries on four continents.

Hornsdale Power Reserve

Hornsdale Power Reserve is a 150MW/194MWh grid-connected energy storage system co-located with the Hornsdale Wind Farm in the Mid North region of South Australia.

The Dalrymple ESCRI battery is a 30 MW / 8 MW·h grid-connected battery array near Stansbury on Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. Its role is to provide improved reliability and stability to the electricity network on Yorke Peninsula and South Australia.

Dundonnell Wind Farm is at Dundonnell, 23 kilometres (14 mi) northeast of Mortlake in the Australian state of Victoria. Construction began in January 2019 and was completed in 2020 with 80 Vestas wind turbines with a capacity to generate 336MW of electricity. The drive trains and hubs were assembled at the former Ford Australia site in Geelong.

Warradarge Wind Farm is under construction 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) northeast of Warradarge, and 30 kilometres (19 mi) southeast of Eneabba in the Mid West region of Western Australia. The first of its planned 51 turbines was completed on 21 January 2020.

References

  1. "AGL Nyngan and Broken Hill solar plants officially opened". AGL Energy. 20 January 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  2. Australian Energy Market Commission (1 March 2019). "Fact sheet - Marginal loss factors" (PDF). Australian Energy Market Commission. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  3. "REGIONS AND MARGINALLOSS FACTORS: FY 2018-19" (PDF). AEMO. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  4. Parkinson, Giles. "Solar, wind farms hit as AEMO slashes output calculations". Renew Economy. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  5. Australian Energy Market Operator (1 November 2020). "Regions and Marginal Loss Factors: FY 2020-21" (PDF). Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  6. Parkinson, Giles. "AEMO slashes output of five big solar farms by half due to voltage issues". Renew Economy. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  7. Parkinson, Giles. "Solar farms warned of worsening network losses in NSW, Victoria". Renew Economy. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  8. "Powering Australian Renewables Fund FAQs - AGL" . Retrieved 22 April 2017.