Battery-powered renewables drive commercial momentum for Carnegie Clean Energy
Project location at former General Motors Holden Site in Elizabeth, South Australia.
Renewables company Carnegie Clean Energy (ASX: CCE) continues to set the pace for renewable-energy hopefuls across Australia as the company announced yet another contract — its fourth in as many weeks — to design, construct, operate and maintain a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in Australia.
In a market update, Carnegie reported that it had secured a $3 million government grant to build a 2-megawatt (MW), 500 kilowatt-hours (kWh) BESS at the General Motors Holden site in Elizabeth, South Australia.
The grant was awarded from the Renewable Technology Fund, a working part of the South Australian Government’s Energy Plan.
The core reasons behind the project are to improve the quantity and efficiency of energy generation, as well as to streamline its delivery to consumers and businesses in South Australia.
The BESS is expected to deliver grid-support services in times of peak demand and to operate alongside the existing diesel fuelled backup generators located at Elizabeth.
The facility will offer improvements upon traditional diesel-run gas turbines for grid support, thereby generating significant savings in standby fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, maintenance costs, noise pollution and faster response times.
Battery-powered efficiency ahead
The proposed facility is based on Carnegie’s standardised 2MW grid support BESS, “capable of expansion up to the 10’s and 100’s of MW.”
Carnegie says it is working closely with the new owner of the General Motors Holden site to develop a “rooftop solar system of initially 3MW in capacity,” which could be expanded to 10-15MW if deployed across the site’s available roof space.
According to Carnegie, the company will commence work on the design and BESS grid connection immediately, forecasting a completion date of December 2018.
“This solar and battery project by Carnegie is part of a wave of new investment in South Australia we have leveraged through the $150 million Renewable Technology Fund announced as part of our energy plan,” said South Australian Premier, the Hon Jay Weatherill.
“Renewable energy projects like this also reduce demand on the grid during peak times, which puts downward pressure on power prices for all South Australians. This project is symbolic of the broader transition we are seeing in our economy away from traditional manufacturing towards high-tech industries creating jobs of the future for South Australians,” he added.
Carnegie’s Managing Director Michael Ottaviano sees battery-powered systems as far more competitive in the current economic environment, and also the basis for the increasing number of opportunities that Carnegie is now evaluating and securing.
“The CCE [Carnegie] battery solution offers faster response time, lower operating cost, no greenhouse gas pollution, and silent operation. This is Carnegie’s first project in South Australia and means we are now delivering projects right across Australia,” said Mr Ottaviano.
Today’s announcement adds yet another commercial project to Carnegie’s growing portfolio of renewables projects, with the company achieving almost $40 million in new deals over the past month.
Carnegie will hope to translate its growing project list into substantive returns when its range of renewables projects are finally completed and its BESS microgrids begin to supply power into state power grids.