Tilt Renewables announces new solar farm and battery at Snowtown, plus $400m plan for a hydro storage project at Highbury

A DISUSED quarry on the outskirts of metropolitan Adelaide is being targeted as the site of a large hydro energy storage facility by a company that’s also building a new battery at Snowtown.

• Pumped hydro storage: Cheap energy that’s 100% renewable

A DISUSED quarry on the outskirts of Adelaide is being targeted as the site of a large hydro energy storage facility, by a company that’s also building a new battery at Snowtown.

Tilt Renewables, which runs the huge Snowtown wind farm, revealed plans for a new solar farm and battery at that site and a longer-term vision for hydro storage at Highbury.

The 369MW Snowtown wind farm is the biggest in the state.

Under a $90 million plan, Tilt will add a 44MW solar farm and 21MW battery to deliver more reliable supply to the grid.

Taxpayers will hand over a $7.1 million grant to help deliver the solar and battery plan.

The new project follows installation of the existing 100MW Tesla battery at Jamestown.

Tilt has also revealed plans to build a 300MW hydro storage facility at the Highbury quarry, which already has electricity connections and upper and lower lakes needed for the technology.

The hydro facility would pump water to the upper lake at times of cheap spot electricity prices, most often times of high wind, and release it to make power when needed.

SA Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis and Tilt Renewables CEO Deion Campbell at the quarry. David Mariuz/AAP

Tilt Renewables chief executive Deion Campbell said his company now owned the quarry, but required planning approvals and technical work to carry out before building could start.

Tilt also needs to raise around $400 million to complete construction.

It is estimated the project would create about 300 jobs, during a build that’s likely to take three years.

Mr Campbell said the hydro pump could be used regularly when built for security and supply, and would most often be called on during peak demand times in the morning and evenings.

“By having the stability of dispatchable energy in the renewable system, what you do is remove the high peaks out of the energy pricing,” he said.

“When a retailer is charging mum and dad at home for their electricity, they need to charge enough to cover those high peaks.

“Assets like this remove those. “Prices, to retail consumers, don’t need to go up as much.”

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said renewable energy lowered prices and it “made sense” for SA use to use storage alongside wind and sun.

“The difference here (to gas and coal plants) is that the fuel source is free,” he said.

“Automatically, the costs that you are savings with generating electricity is vast.

He rejected suggestions that the Government should have encouraged more storage into the state’s grid before allowing construction of huge amounts of intermittent wind farms.

“Storage is a relatively new example of the revolution that renewable technology is,” Mr Koutsantonis said. “You have the solar panels and the wind farms, then you start to store it.”

“This is a natural evolution.”

Policy Police

What? The State Government is attempting to fast track the development of four pumped hydro projects in the Upper Spencer Gulf, to cut power prices and boost security.

How? Has released $9 million in taxpayer money from the renewable technology fund.

Pub test? Hydro storage is a proven technology that can help eliminate the main bugbear of most existing renewables, that they don’t work when it’s not windy or sunny. It can also help to cut prices by bringing more competition to the market. However, the four Upper Spencer Gulf projects backed by the Government need substantial work before building goes ahead.

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