This report shares lessons learnt from designing and constructing a renewable energy system that could connect to the weak grid, facilitate high penetration of customer-side renewable generation and export surplus electricity to the Western Power network.
Report extract
The Project was successfully commissioned in July 2020, approximately 6 months later than planned. There were several delays mostly relating to sub-contractor non- performance with a key EPC contract (BESS installation and commissioning). COVID- 19 resulted in further challenges and there were some less anticipated delays such as land-use agreements and environmental approvals. These latter issues serve as a lesson not to underestimate the time to complete even seemingly trivial project tasks.
At this early stage of operations, the Project is generally performing to expectations, with some improvements still to be gained from the BESS. Due to reduced performance of the BESS relative to its capabilities, AER is currently developing an alternative control system to optimise the system’s performance and also develop alternative applications such as UPS capability, ancillary services and network support functionality. We anticipate the Project objectives and outcomes contained in the ARENA funding agreement will be achieved and we look forward to sharing the results in due course.