Nowingi is an underpopulated area in northwest Victoria, Australia, some 500 miles away from Melbourne. It is home to state forests within a national park, and various endangered species. Moreover thirty years of climate records reveal generous year-round sunshine. Therefore it is just the place for a clean, large-scale solar power project.
The Electricity Supply Situation in Victoria
Most of Victoria’s electricity comes from burning brown coal. However this has relatively low heat content, because only 60 to 70% is carbon. Secondly, to complicate things further, one of the major electricity consumers in Victoria, an aluminum smelter at Portland, purchases discounted electricity.
The state is currently introducing wind and solar alternatives. Plus hydro from its sparse water resources to replace natural gas. Things have now reached the point where the state encourages residents to cook and heat their homes with brown coal briquettes.
What Nowingi Large-Scale Solar Power Promises
Engineers will soon start positioning 2.3 million solar panels in sparsely populated Nowingi flatlands this September. These will produce 250 megawatts of electricity without the need for refueling outages that bedevil nuclear.
This energy will go to an 80-megawatt / 160 megawatt-hour battery-storage system. Then users will bid for electricity from this large-scale solar power source when energy is elsewhere scarce. Or alternatively when other energy prices are higher. The total project cost is Australian $ 660 million.
Significant Grid-Based Benefits Flowing From This
Dylan McConnell from University of Melbourne’s Climate and Energy College explains the knock-on benefits for the broader grid. “Storage can reduce the need for upgrading transmission lines,” he explains. “And thus help with controlling voltage and so on.”
Furthermore, batteries are the fastest way to respond to unexpected outages, and other power emergencies. First, they react rapidly to frequency fluctuations, and secondly they help keep the lights on all over Australia. From what we hear, this is just the beginning.
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