Utilities Commission releases report card on NT’s power system with mixed grades
The Utilities Commission of the NT has criticised the pace of the solar power rollout across the Territory in a recent report card. SEE HOW WE FARED
Northern Territory
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THE Utilities Commission of the NT’s latest power system performance review has delivered a mixed report card, including criticism of the pace of the rollout of solar generation projects.
Released this month, the report by the independent regulator says solar projects are taking “comparably longer to bring online” than equivalent projects interstate.
Unreliable generation remains a constant issue across the Northern Territory’s three power systems and the report is critical of Power Water Corporation’s capacity to meet the demands of new connections, ongoing operational challenges and network changes as “potentially insufficient”.
“This is an issue across most jurisdictions in Australia,” the report said.
“The level of activity in the power system planning, network connections and system operations space is extremely high, and the availability of experienced personnel to augment in-house capability to a useful extent is very low.
The review also identified that events such as blackouts occur at a “potentially higher rate” across the Territory than other jurisdictions.
The rollout of solar energy sources is causing headaches for the commission.
It notes large-scale solar farms in the Katherine, Batchelor and Manton Dam regions will raise the importance and complexity of managing assets.
“This throws focus on the next tranche of generating systems to be connected, however these solar farms are struggling to meet the requirements for network and model compliance developed under the Network Technical Code and associated guidelines,’ the report said.
The review notes the potential for the additional rollout of solar projects and its potential to scramble the system.
“There is a significant capacity of large-scale solar PV under test or ready to be tested that will radically change the generation mix in the Darwin Katherine power system,” the report said.
“Entura (renewable energy advisors) considers these projects are taking comparably longer to bring online than those in (other) jurisdictions.
“While (report author) Entura appreciates that the Darwin Katherine power system is different to other power systems around Australia, discussions during consultation with the licensees and other stakeholders involved in bringing these plants online suggest there may not be sufficient capacity for PWC Power Services and System Control to accept such a large change in generation in a short period.”
However, Infrastructure Minister Eva Lawler defended the solar rollout.
“No it has not been a mistake, the commissioning of those solar farms has been complex work,” she said.
“Some of those issues are around technology issues and there’s some fine tuning around that technology.”
Originally published as Utilities Commission releases report card on NT’s power system with mixed grades
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