Flinders to invest in batteries and EVs while Gupta solar plan is back, Fearless Conversations told

Flinders is working to take its massive use of energy off grid, with plans to invest in batteries and electric cars. Meanwhile Sanjeev Gupta’s solar plans are back on track.

A sweet spot in the economics of batteries has Flinders University deciding on how best to invest in the technology.

The university wants to manage its considerable energy usage off the grid as far as possible, chief operating officer Mark Gregory said.

Batteries would play a key role in this.

“We modelled one system which would cost about $3.5m,” he said.

“It would generate about $1m a year – that’s a payback that is shorter than almost anything else I can invest in.”

Flinders already operates with 100 per cent renewable electricity. It has nearly 2.5 megawatts of solar power installed and a contract with Simply Energy to supply all the rest of its needs from wind.

“We’ve had a steep reduction in our energy costs in the last couple of years,” Mr Gregory told a forum in the Fearless Conversations series, a collaboration between Flinders and the Sunday Mail to explore major issues in South Australia.

The uni has 13 electric vehicles in its fleet but Mr Gregory said it was looking to greatly increase this, including experimenting with vehicle-to-grid models where the car charges up cheaply during the day and its battery would feed back to run the uni’s buildings and facilities at night.

“We’ll have a fleet of about 100 vehicles,” he said, with about 30 feeding back.

Flinders University vice-chancellor Colin Stirling at a charging point for electric vehicles.

The university’s plans come as a report last week from the Australian Energy Market Operator showed how lucrative batteries can be.

In the September quarter, big batteries in SA made $660,000 while charging up when wholesale electricity prices were negative. Then they made millions more by selling energy back to the grid and by providing support services.

It also comes as AGL clears the site at Torrens Island to install its $180m battery.

Along with ElectraNet’s synchronous condensers, which are now fully operational and providing system security, AGL’s investment will allow more renewables to be used in SA’s grid.

SA Chamber of Mines and Energy chief executive Rebecca Knol said SA’s transition to an electricity grid dominated by renewables “has not been without its problems” with policy being made up on the run.

“This transition is going to require us to incorporate all types of energy, rather than saying one type of energy source is better than another. It is incredibly complex,” she said.

Fearless Conversations panel on energy and mining – AGIG’s Kristin Roman, SACOME chief executive Rebecca Knol, Flinders University chief operating officer Mark Gregory and GFG Simec Energy senior project manager Adam Hammersley. Picture: Keryn Stevens

WHYALLA VISION RESTORED

The huge Cultana solar farm near Whyalla and Playford battery at Port Augusta are back on track with the GFG Alliance close to finalising a deal.

“We’re pretty excited with the opportunity,” said Adam Hammersley, project manager for GFG subsidiary SIMEC Energy Australia.

“There’ll probably be an announcement in the next couple of weeks and we’re hoping to deliver those projects in the next year. There’s going to quite a benefit for the community in Whyalla and Port Augusta.”

SIMEC has gone through offers which followed a decision in May by GFG executive chairman Sanjeev Gupta to put the assets up for sale.

GFG Alliance executive chairman Sanjeev Gupta next to the Cultana solar plant test rig

Mr Hammersley told the Fearless Conversations forum SIMEC Energy had made a recommendation which will likely be a joint venture.

The 280 megawatt solar farm, which would create some 700 construction jobs, and 100MW battery, are key parts of Mr Gupta’s billion-dollar vision to transform the Whyalla steelworks into a world-leading environmentally friendly operation.

The move to sell the projects as GFG faced financial stress with the collapse of its financier Greensill was described as “a serious backward step” at the time.

On October 10, GFG announced it had struck a debt refinancing deal and its metals arm had strong forecasts following record revenue of $2.5bn in 2020-21.

SIMEC Energy was working with GFG’s mining operations as well as the steelworks to increase use of renewables. Energy was about 20 per cent of the cost in mining production “so if we can scale that down it makes the mine more efficient”, Mr Hammersley said.

SIMEC also was talking to other mines in the area. “There’s going to be real growth and opportunity for renewable energy in mining,” he said.

WATER FOR THE OUTBACK

Water supply to the mineral-rich Outback of South Australia will be high on the agenda for the resources sector at the 2022 state election.

“We’re looking for a long-term source of water so we can expand mining in the Gawler Craton and assist the expansion of manufacturing in the Upper Spencer Gulf,” SA Chamber of Mines and Energy chief executive Rebecca Knol told the Fearless Conversations forum.

Now, mining in the Gawler Craton – the geological area taking in Olympic Dam, Prominent Hill, Carrapateena and most of SA’s mines – relies on groundwater which is often hypersaline.

The space and defence sectors which use the Outback would also benefit.

“It would be a game changer for the state,” Ms Knol said.

The planned expansion of Olympic Dam to an open-cut operation which was shelved in 2012 included building a desalination plant at Port Bonython, near Whyalla.

“There is some brushing off of those plans being done,” Ms Knol said in suggesting a desalination plant in Spencer Gulf and a pipeline going north were needed.

Upper Spencer Gulf communities now relied on water from the Murray River and SA should be thinking about long-term sustainability, she said.

Port Bonython near Whyalla is now used for petroleum exports.

The chamber’s manifesto for the election would also look at workforce development, infrastructure and energy requirements.

Ms Knol said the resources sector, as major users of electricity and fuel, had gone through difficult years with escalating prices and security of supply issues.

Companies were innovating to improve efficiency and use alternatives such as hydrogen, wind and solar in production and transport.

Ms Knol said the industry was anticipating the space sector would create new technological opportunities for mineral and energy companies. Exploration, communication, remote operation and control would be affected.

“That disruption is coming like a freight train,” she said.

HOME BREW HYDROGEN

South Australia needs to get more hydrogen projects happening to build the domestic industry and create momentum for the massive opportunities of exports, the Fearless Conversations forum heard.

“It’s very hard to go from zero to hero,” said Kristin Raman, head of strategy and innovation at the Australian Gas Infrastructure Group.

“The export carrot can be quite big but we can’t forget the domestic sector.”

The group operates Hydrogen Park SA (HyP SA), the plant at Tonsley Innovation District which is manufacturing hydrogen using electrolysis powered by renewable energy.

Ms Raman said the state government had “led the way early”, including supporting and part funding HyP SA but “we’d like to see some more announcements in this state”.

A domestic industry would help set rules, build skills, and normalise the sector.

Kristin Raman, head of strategy and innovation for the Australian Gas Infrastructure Group at the HydrogenPark SA project. Picture Matt Turner.

In an Australian-first, HyP SA feeds a 5 per cent blend of hydrogen into the natural gas network in Mitchell Park.

Local resident Jack Dona, 69, said he had not noticed any difference since hydrogen was added in May to the gas his family used for cooking, heating and for hot water.

“But it’s great to know it’s less polluting, we’ve all got to do our bit,” he said.

Ms Raman said many Mitchell Park residents were proud to be at the forefront of change. The company and Marion Council would celebrate HyP SA with an artwork at Quick Road Reserve.

A Marion Council spokeswoman said the local government body had committed to being carbon neutral by 2030.

“The artwork will focus on innovation, sustainability and the pathway to a cleaner energy future,” the spokeswoman said. Final designs of the artwork were now being decided with community input.

The costs of hydrogen production were often cited as too big a barrier for the industry to succeed. But Ms Raman said costs were falling rapidly.

“We’re seeing significant capex reductions, it has just been astounding,” she said.

HyP SA has a 1.25 megawatt electrolyser, the biggest in Australia, but already her company was developing a 10MW project in Wodonga.

Ms Raman said using excess solar and wind – which is now curtailed and wasted – would reduce costs.

There were also opportunities for new wind and solar to be co-located with electrolysers in places far from electricity transmission lines, a remoteness which would otherwise stop them from being built.

“That would drive down those costs,” she said.

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Streamed live on advertiser.com.au every Wednesday from 10.30am, the Fearless Conversations series encourages the community to engage in the debate about SA’s future. Questions can be submitted through advertiser.com.au or on Twitter via #fearlessconversations