A 1,200-hectare land in South Australia has been purchased by a developer who plans to utilize it to create a 300MW solar power plant with solar storage of 3.6GWh using a revolutionary technology solution.

Photon Energy, based in Europe, is attempting to expand the technology developed by RayGen, based in Australia. It combines a concentrating solar power (CSP) + solar photovoltaics (PV) combination called ‘PV Ultra’ from RayGen, with a long-duration energy storage technology called ‘thermal hydro.’

PV Ultra uses PV modules and angled mirror towers (heliostats) to create both power and heat. The thermal hydro part is so named because, unlike a pumped hydro plant, it employs reservoirs at different temperatures, one hot and one cold, to store energy: the PV and grid power cools one, while the CSP warms the other.

The temperature gradient is then used to create electricity using an Organic Rankine Cycle engine, which uses thermodynamic cycles to turn steam into mechanical energy with a throughput efficiency of over 70%.

Photon Energy – In-Depth with Solar Storage Prospects

Photon Electricity, which has constructed, operated, and maintained PV facilities in Europe and Australia, announced its strategic cooperation with RayGen in April 2020, tantalizing the potential grand-scale of their projects and the enabling of round-the-clock renewable energy.

The technique has previously been employed in a 1MWac demonstration plant in Victoria, Australia, which has been in operation for six years. Photon Energy is developing various potential sites for the “unique” technology, while RayGen concluded a Series C fundraising round earlier this year for another project in Victoria, this time of 4MW solar with 3MW / 50MWh energy storage.

Solar Storage Options

The AU$55 million fundraising round was completed after the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) provided AU$15 million, in addition to private investment, and followed ARENA’s assistance in sponsoring a feasibility study. AGL, an Australian energy retailer and generator, as well as Schlumberger New Energy, Chevron Technology Ventures, and Equinor Ventures, were among the round’s investors.

That project, in the Victorian township of Carwarp, is already in the works and is scheduled to open in the middle of next year.

Photon Energy stated that preliminary plans for the South Australia project call for 300MW of solar to a 150MW grid link. Although Photon and RayGen said in prior news releases that the technology is intended to provide up to 17 hours of storage, Photon stated this week that the South Australia project’s 3.6GWh solar storage capacity will correspond to more like 24 hours of storage time.

The licensing and grid connection procedure has already begun, and Photon Energy hopes to have its giga-plant ready to construct by the end of 2023.

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South Australia‘s grid has established yet another global first for a gigawatt-scale grid, with the local distribution network registering “negative demand” as a result of rooftop solar production for four hours on Sunday.

It’s not the first time the local network, controlled by SA Power Networks, has suffered negative netload, but it’s the deepest and longest to yet, indicating the quick transition from a one-way grid to a two-way network.

Rooftop Solar – The Gamechanger

It is critical to explain two aspects here. The same day, the Australian Energy Market Operator established a new “minimum need” of 188MW for the South Australian system.

However, that figure includes both the distribution (or local) network and the state’s primary transmission system, run by ElectraNet, which has direct clients such as BHP’s Olympic Dam and other large industrial users, adding to the overall load.

The SAPN encounter indicates a massive solar duck curve. In the half-hour ending at 1.30 pm local time, the highest negative load was – 69.4MW (1 pm grid, or eastern standard time)

The local grid suffered a negative load for the 4th straight in the month of October. It had occurred the previous weekend in late September for the very first time. Usually, the SAPN network has an average load of 1.5GW, with summer peaks reaching up to 3GW.

“Rooftop solar is helping to decarbonize our energy and cut energy prices,” said SAPN head of corporate affairs Paul Roberts in an emailed statement.

“In the not-too-distant future, we anticipate seeing South Australia’s energy demands (all of them) frequently provided 100 percent from rooftop solar throughout the middle sections of the day.” (According to AEMO, this might happen in spring, when temperatures are mild and demand is still relatively low.)

Electric vehicles that could charge during the day, according to Roberts, may help produce load and reduce the stress caused by negative demand.

“Longer term, we aspire to see a transportation system in which the majority of vehicles are powered by renewable-sourced electricity, including solar rooftop PV,” he added.

“It’s wonderful to think that South Australia is driving the globe in this shift, and there’s so much potential for us as a State to make it happen as soon as possible.”

It is one of a series of significant milestones accomplished in South Australia in recent months, that has maintained a world-leading 62 percent of wind and solar (percentage of local demand) over the past year.

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IRecco has received inquiries seeking clarification of job offers received in unsolicited fashion. These job offers appear to come from organisations falsely pretending to recruit on behalf, or by people…

IRecco has received inquiries seeking clarification of job offers received in unsolicited fashion. These job offers appear to come from organisations falsely pretending to recruit on behalf, or by people…

IRecco has received inquiries seeking clarification of job offers received in unsolicited fashion. These job offers appear to come from organisations falsely pretending to recruit on behalf, or by people…