"Canberra News, Views and Opinion"
Gosh! Royalla 1 has a ring to it eh? Simon Corbell has unveiled the winner of the big solar power facility auction:
Mr Corbell announced the outcome of the ACT Government’s fast-track stream of the ACT large-scale solar reverse auction by confirming that Royalla 1 will become the largest solar power facility built in Australia to date.
“This is an important day for Canberra, and I am proud that the ACT Labor Government is delivering on its promise to make Canberra, Australia’s solar capital,” Mr Corbell said.
“This reverse auction process has delivered a solar facility that will produce enough renewable electricity to power approximately 4,400 Canberra homes at a cost of 25c per week per household or $13 per year.
“Importantly, we expect this already low cost to reduce further as the wholesale price of electricity rises, and for the cost per household to reduce to approximately $9.50 per year by 2020,” he said.
With a Feed-in Tariff rate of $186 per megawatt-hour (18.6c/kilowatt-hour), the successful auction proposal submitted by FRV is highly competitive and will result in the ACT hosting the largest solar farm in Australia by 2014.
FRV have a website for peering at.
UPDATE 05/09/12 15:43: Simon Corbell’s office has sent in the above artists’ impression of the plan and Simon Corbell with Rafael Benjumea, CEO of Photowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV).
Also the Greens are very happy:
The ACT Greens have welcomed today’s announcement that Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) has been chosen to build the ACT’s first large scale solar power facility. The plant will be Australia’s largest solar facility upon its completion in 2014.
“This is a great example of the progress that has been made during this term of the Assembly towards Canberra becoming more sustainable,” said Shane Rattenbury, ACT Greens Energy spokesperson.
“With an ambitious greenhouse gas reduction target of 40% reduction by 2020, a feed in tariff for large scale renewables, and energy efficiency legislation, a lot of progress has been made to position Canberra for a low carbon future.
“The reverse auction tariff price of 18.6c/kilowatt-hour also reflects just how quickly the price of solar energy is falling, and that the more we invest in renewable energy, the cheaper it becomes.
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Bloody awesome!
Go for it FRV!
Fantastic to see some changes happening.
four thousand houses ey? Is that roughly equivalent of a single government department? I wonder how much juice the ATO server room alone sucks down? so we only need another few hundred of these plants to run Canberra, well at least on sunny days.
Its a welcome start, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, its just a pity the first step wasn’t twenty years ago.
Ah, I love that 20 MW is being touted as big. 2 GW would be big solar.
What a waste of space.
Solidarity said :
What would you do with the space?
If it’s not being used for water collection, farming or housing I would think that energy production is the next best thing.
Solidarity said :
space is pretty big. there’s plenty to waste if you consider that it’s infinity.
this stuff should be going onto roof spaces in the cbd and industrial areas, not farmland. stupid stuff if you ask me.
roccon said :
I agree that the preservation of agricultural land is essential, given the impending perfect storm of global population growth, peak oil and biofuels, and unpredictable climate changes.
However, there is the potential for solar and sheep graziers to have a symbiotic relationship, with solar panels providing some shade for vegetation and stock as well as auxiliary income for farmers in droughts, while the stock keep the grass down around panels, reducing the risk and impact of grassfires. Cattle don’t work because they are more capable of damaging panels and infrastructure.
It makes the rooftop solar feed-in tariff scheme with tariffs of $500.50 or $457 per megawatthour look really stupid. Since the electricity is worth $10, the subsidy required averages $390 a megawatthour
Minister Corbell intends to grandstand and cancel the renewable energy certificates the solar farm electricity creates. These are worth $36 per megawatthour. The tariff paid to the farm would drop from $186 to $150. The subsidy required would be $50 per megawatthour.
And Minister Corbell considers what he has done is a success.
monomania said :
My head hurts.
monomania said :
The tariff will be paid to FRV and they wil pay the lucky farmer a rent over the next 20 years
Now I guess someone, somewhere , has worked out what this is going to cost us residents in the end,, I only hope it’s not the same joker who gave us the original cost for our new dam.
So my power just bill went up again to make me feel warm and fuzzy.
What a waste of money
enrique said :
Hear, hear.
Of course ACTEWAGL will still charge us carbon tax on its electricity.
Love it, great clean energy.
Two points:
a) Given the outlook for Spain, you have to ask how long this mob will be around for.
b) It seems a bit pricy for the amount of electricity we’ll get, but the Greens love it so it’s all ok.
The solar farm will generate 37 GWh pa and be paid $6.9 million per year for this. While rooftop systems are more economic, this is hardly a waste of space as I doubt sheep grazing earns this much.
The 18.6c/kWh rate (which includes the RECs and is fixed for 20 years) is actually lower than the present residential tariff in the ACT, so it is hardly ‘pricey’. In fact the front page of the newspapers today should have been ‘Solar generation now cheaper than delivered grid electricity’ !
Eb_Flow said :
Thank you Eb_Flow for those facts. This really looks like a great deal and shows that clean renewable energy will become cheaper than energy from polluting fossil fuels. Compulsive knockers may finally get the message!!
Well done Labor and Greens, well done Simon Corbell and let’s not forget Mick Gentleman, this makes the community’s struggle on the polluting gas-fired power station all the more worthwhile!
now that you bought up gas.
1. A gas fired plant would have much greater impact supplying peak demand, thus reducing the need for major new coal stations and save us having to buy electricity off the market.
2. This warm fuzzy plant supplies a very very small % of Canberra power needs. Rather than the spin of 4,000+ homes what % of total power is it? Someone please correct me but I can’t see how this is a “Big Delivery”
3. ActewAGL (part gov owned) couldn’t win their own gov contract.
Eb_Flow said :
That’s the retail price not the wholesale price. They’re actually getting over ~3x the wholesale cost of the power which is the subsidy.
If it was the total cost then it wouldn’t cost householders anything rather than the $13 per year it will cost.
It’s OK to support this proposal but at least be honest about it’s cost.
Chop71 said :
According to the 2006 census stats, there is 112818 dwellings in the ACT. To give you an idea of what this will power, it’s just under half of all dwellings in Weston Creek according the census figures. See page 6: http://is.gd/1VuHdQ
Postalgeek said :
I was worried about the loss of what is semi-decent agricultural land, but you have reassured me to some extent.
It’s about time we spent a decent amount of money on generating power from the huge amount of *free* and *nonpolluting* resources that surround us.
Paul0075 said :
Provided you only want to be powered for 5 hours a day.
37GWh/20MW/365=5.068 hours per day of output.
switch said :
Spot on Switch . When the sun slides behind the Brinndys, the call goes into Hazlewood; shovel a bit more coal on boys; gunna be minus 7 here tonight, or whatever.
I think you’ll find that peak power is summer weekday afternoons in Canberra. By a long shot.
That is when power we buy is the most expensive. By a long shot
It is also when solar is most efficient. By a long shot
rosscoact said :
As has been shown by some research by the Crimes’ G.Downie; peak solar power production does NOT coincide with peak power consumption, even in summer.
Martlark said :
Yep, well I’ll back my research over that of Mr Downie.
rosscoact said :
Due to the prevalence of air-conditioners, peak loads around Canberra usually occur on the hottest Summer evenings when people get home from work, usually around 6:00pm.
Solar PV systems are most definitely not at their peak performance at this time (if they’re oriented for maximum overall output). Solar PV systems also are are less efficient during hot weather, about 0.5% less efficient per degree over 25 degrees celsius.
Solar PV system use will continue to grow and will be a large part of our total energy capacity in the future but lets not make stuff up.
chewy14 said :
OK, how about a few facts.
Peak demand in Canberra is about 3pm not 6pm.
Peak cost of electricity is 2pm to 8pm.
The effectiveness of solar in hot weather (they operate at about 60C in summer in Canberra) is also dependant on the technology of the array material used.
Peak output of solar arrays depends on the composition of the panels, the shape and whether or not they are fixed, uni or multi-directional tracking. Which one are you talking about and how did you come to that conclusion?
Which technology and systems will the solar providers be using that has enabled the conclusions that Mr Downie made ?
I’d put a big question mark over this project now.