Australia’s renewable vitality sector is rising quickly with 43 GW of recent utility scale technology and storage tasks working by the National Electricity Market connection course of however issues stay that uncertainties surrounding the approval processes could have an effect on investor confidence.
From pv journal Australia
The Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO’s) newest connection scorecard reveals the variety of photo voltaic, wind and battery tasks progressing by the end-to-end National Electricity Market (NEM) connection course of. which elevated from 30 GW to 43 GW within the final 12 months.
AEMO’s snapshot of connection actions reveals that by the top of Q2 2024, there might be 43 GW of recent capability progressing by the connection course of from utility to commissioning, a 50% enhance in comparison with final 12 months.
The market operator famous that 79% of tasks are within the early levels of improvement, both within the utility or proponent implementation levels. Only 700 MW of recent crops have been registered and related to the NEM throughout Q2 2024, up from 500 MW in the identical interval final yr however nicely under what is required to fulfill state and federal renewables targets.
Brian Innes, Director of Sydney-based consultancy outfit Partners in Performance, stated shifting tasks from the early levels of improvement to the operational stage in a well timed method was essential to Australia’s vitality transition, warning of pointless delays can have a destructive influence on investor confidence.
“The uncertainties surrounding the approval processes, together with the timing and the complexity of the necessities, current important challenges for traders who need clear timelines for when building will start vitality,” he stated.
“Strict environmental and grid connection guidelines additionally typically make tasks extra complicated, inflicting delays.”
Innes stated Australia’s photo voltaic farm sector already confronted a variety of challenges, together with excessive labor and set up prices that made it troublesome for off-grid tasks to compete financially.
He stated that on-grid photo voltaic farms face points associated to the excessive uptake of rooftop photo voltaic, particularly in Queensland and Western Australia, which reduces the potential worth technology of photo voltaic vitality throughout peak manufacturing occasions.
Despite these challenges, Innes expects the expansion of rooftop PV to proceed to be sturdy, which is able to additional have an effect on the worth and viability of many on-grid photo voltaic farms.
However, Innes provides a constructive, saying that advances in battery storage will drastically enhance the general effectivity, reliability, and economics of photo voltaic farms.
“Batteries will drive the capability and stability of the system, which is necessary as a result of grids are wanted to assist extra photo voltaic vitality technology,” he stated. “Improved battery expertise additionally addresses issues about photo voltaic availability throughout essential occasions, reminiscent of blackouts, by providing longer storage occasions, simpler set up, and decrease prices. worth, making them extra accessible.”
Innes additionally expects that advances in direct present (DC) coupled with photo voltaic programs will assist scale back general prices by solely requiring an inverter to transform DC to alternating present ( AC) for the grid.
“This allows the batteries to carry out load shifting, which is especially helpful for grid-connected photo voltaic property,” he stated.
The AEMO June connections scorecard reveals battery vitality storage programs comprising 32% of all connection tasks within the early levels of improvement. Solar tasks are 46% photo voltaic, with 14% wind and eight% hydro.
The complete capability of in-progress purposes was 18.9 GW, in comparison with 13.9 GW on the identical time final yr. An extra 15.0 GW of recent capability tasks have finalized contracts and are within the proponent’s implementation section. This compares to 10.6 GW on the finish of Q2 2023.
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