Wind farm near Jamestown approved with tough licensing conditions
THE construction of a 100-megawatt wind farm near Jamestown has been approved — but with the toughest licensing conditions — as a new threat emerged to SA’s energy supply in the coming three days.
THE construction of a 100-megawatt wind farm near Jamestown has been approved, but with the toughest licensing conditions in the country.
The Hornsdale Wind Farm 2 will be the first to have frequency control technology and will work with the national operator on a trial that is hoped will provide increased grid stability. If the trial is successful, such technology would likely became a licence condition on all new wind farms in SA.
Essential Services Commission of SA chief executive Adam Wilson said it was hoped the new conditions would give the state – and the nation – a “more robust” power system.
A new threat to the system emerged yesterday, when the Australian Energy Market Operator issued two notices to the market advising of low-level concerns with the state’s energy supply during the coming three days.
Some rescheduled work on transmission lines in Victoria today leaves SA at greater risk of blackout if there is an unexpected loss of generation later in the week, AEMO has predicted a slight shortfall in backup reserves.
Mr Wilson said ESCOSA was in the process of reviewing licensing conditions for all new forms of generation but was taking advice from AEMO on additional requirements in the meantime.
“Given the changes in the market in recent years, including the withdrawal of generators (such as Port Augusta’s Northern power station), ... these sorts of conditions would help SA work through those extreme events,” he said.
“AEMO are very confident this will work but it hasn’t been tested out, so this is about making sure and then considering whether they recommend it become compulsory.”
Mr Wilson said these conditions would be stricter than any others and other states may consider introducing them.
Federal Department of the Environment and Energy deputy secretary Rob Heferen told Estimates hearings in Parliament that the Council of Australian Governments Energy Council asked for such a project to be “pushed forward” at a meeting in December.
The Department’s electricity branch assistant secretary James O’Toole said it was possible for wind farms to provide frequency control, which is crucial to maintaining system stability in the event of a crisis. “Provided they have the right electronics in place, which for the most part in Australia is not currently the case,” he said.
It comes as AFL boss Gillon McLachlan, 42, recently fronted an Adelaide court to fight a multimillion-dollar wind farm project near his family’s historic family sheep and cattle station near Mount Pleasant, 55km northeast of Adelaide.