Aurora Solar Thermal Power Project

Aurora Solar Thermal Power Project was a planned solar power tower solar thermal power plant to be located north of Port Augusta in South Australia. It was planned to generate 150 MW of electricity after it was completed in 2020. Storage capacity would have been up to 8 hours at full power. The facility was expected to produce 495 GWh of electricity annually. It was to be 30 kilometres (19 mi) north of Port Augusta on Carriewerloo Station.[1]

Aurora Solar Thermal Power Project
CountryAustralia
LocationSouth Australia
Coordinates32.2°S 137.6°E / -32.2; 137.6
StatusProposed
Construction costA$650M
Operator(s)
Solar farm
TypeFlat-panel PV
CSP technologySolar power tower
Power generation
Units cancelled1
Nameplate capacity70–400 (proposed)
Annual net output495 GW·h (planned)
Storage capacity1,200 MW·he (cancelled)
External links
Website

On 5 April 2019, South Australian Energy Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan announced the cancellation of the project.[2]

Project announcement and original timeline

Then premier of South Australia, Jay Weatherill announced in August 2017 that construction would begin in 2018 and was expected to be completed in 2020. It was expected to cost A$650M to build, including a A$110M loan from the Federal Government. SolarReserve had a contract to supply all of the electricity required by the state government's offices from this power project.[3]

The plant received formal development approval from the state government in January 2018. At that time, finance was not yet all in place, but SolarReserve still anticipated starting construction in mid-2018 and taking 650 workers two and a half years to build it.[4]

On 5 April 2019, South Australian Energy Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan announced that he had been contacted by SolarReserve who said the project would not be going ahead.[5]

Purchase and subsequent reboot of the project

In December 2019, local South Australian renewable energy company 1414 Degrees (ASX: 14D) announced it had acquired the project from SolarReserve, along with SolarReserve's early-stage solar PV projects in NSW. 1414 Degrees renamed the site Aurora Solar Energy Project, indicating it would develop the site as a solar photovoltaic farm firmed up using their proprietary GRID-TESS thermal energy storage system using molten silicon.[6]

In May 2020, it announced that the first stage would open in mid-2021 with 70MW of solar panels, followed by a pilot Thermal Energy Storage System (TESS).[7] However, by June 2020 the thermal storage lacked maturity[8] and the project was reshaped with a bigger battery (140 MW/280 MWh), 70MW of solar PV and 150MW of concentrated solar power (CSP), to be constructed in 2023.[9]

Reasons for the original cancellation of the project

Tim Buckley, the Director of Energy Finance Studies for the anti-fossil fuel Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said that the most likely reason for the cancellation was a lack of revenue certainty for the technical demonstrator project. The Aurora plant had the capability of firming up variable renewables by providing stored power from hot salt after the sun had gone down and solar photovoltaic panels had stopped generation but, according to Buckley, there was probably no long-term contract on offer to provide for a fixed price for electricity from the plant, particularly during the evening peak hours of 6 pm to 8 pm. He suggests that this was due to an apparent lack of a government policy framework and a lack of “time of day” electricity pricing.[10]

South Australian opposition leader Peter Malinauskas blamed the failure to secure finance on the state government's plan to establish a new electricity interconnector to New South Wales.[11] This interconnector was expected to reduce the peak wholesale cost of electricity.[12]

References
  1. Reid, Khama (15 August 2017). "Solar thermal power plant supporters and locals welcome greenlighting of Port Augusta project". ABC North and West. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
  2. "Port Augusta solar thermal power plant scrapped after failing to secure finance". ABC News. 5 April 2019. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  3. "Solar thermal power plant announced for Port Augusta 'biggest of its kind in the world'". ABC News. 14 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  4. Langenberg, Adam (9 January 2018). "SolarReserve's $650m Port Augusta solar plant receives development approval". The Advertiser. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  5. "Port Augusta solar thermal power plant scrapped after failing to secure finance". ABC News. 5 April 2019. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  6. Roberts, Peter (2 December 2019). "1414 Degrees set to develop massive solar gamechanger". @AuManufacturing. Australian Manufacturing Forum. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  7. Roberts, Peter (18 May 2020). "Aurora thermal storage project set to launch 2021". @AuManufacturing. Australian Manufacturing Forum.
  8. Vorrath, Sophie (18 June 2020). "1414 Degrees hits major bump on road to utility-scale thermal energy storage". RenewEconomy. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021.
  9. Vorrath, Sophie (11 April 2022). "Gas giant walks away from Aurora solar thermal, PV and battery project". RenewEconomy.
  10. Aliento, Willow (9 April 2019). "Why the Port Augusta solar thermal power station couldn't nail down finance". The Fifth Estate. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  11. "Port Augusta solar thermal power plant scrapped after failing to secure finance". ABC News. 5 April 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  12. Scopelianos, Sarah (13 February 2019). "Interconnector proposal between SA and NSW to 'reduce bills'". ABC. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
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