Limondale solar farm signed up in West Murray

• The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has introduced a major advance in the West Murray Zone after it gave enrollment to the greatest solar farm because struggling part of the grid.

Adhering to the effective resolution of the West Murray system toughness saga, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) is moving on with the pipe of projects waiting to be connected in that part of the grid. In "a major progression", AEMO has given enrollment for the RWE Renewables-owned 220 MW Limondale Solar Farm, situated near Balranald in south-west New South Wales.

In April, AEMO lifted the generation constraints on five solar ranches totaling more than 350 MW in the West Murray Zone, region straddling the state boundaries of Victoria as well as NSW. The Bannerton, Broken Hill, Gannawarra, Karadoc, and also Wemen solar ranches were drastically curtailed to half of their output for seven months after it was established that their consolidated operations were a source of irrepressible voltage oscillations set off by regular disruptions to the grid-- such as lightning strikes.

The option to the network issue in the area entailed adjusting the solar ranches' inverters to operate together, rather than individually when supplying clean power to the grid. With no new physical parts or hardware modifications made use of to craft the service, the inverter provider to all 5 generators, Germany's SMA, developed a brand-new inverter capacity to attend to a "live" issue on the grid. Applying the solution was a mammoth effort joint effort in between AEMO, generators, the inverter maker, networks as well as experts, highlighting the value of cooperation in the energy transition.

Major landmark

After the curtailment was imposed, all various other link work in the area came to a full halt. For months, some 45 various other solar and wind projects in the region were sitting still. However, the effective implementation of the brand-new option to voltage oscillations permitted AEMO to advance analyses of new generation projects in the West Murray Zone.

AEMO is aiming to have all committed projects in the West Murray Zone attached by very early 2021, where possible. A major turning point in the direction of unlocking brand-new generation in the area was announced on Thursday complying with the enrollment of the largest solar farm in the region. Once more, cooperation was crucial.

" AEMO congratulates RWE Renewable in attaining registration for the Limondale 1 solar PV ranch and acknowledges the business's joint and receptive method through the connection process to registration," said AEMO's Chief System Design and also Engineering Officer, Alex Wonhas. "While the West Murray Zones offers really tough network problems, the collective efforts from across the sector and also TransGrid in working with AEMO is aiding address these rising grid efficiency and stability problems," he said.

When totally appointed, the Limondale solar farm will certainly be one of the greatest PV plants on Australia's primary grid. The project was provided by U.S.-based PV manufacturer SunPower with its Chinese-made, 19% P-Series modules and SMA, which installed its 1,500 V Medium Voltage Power Stations (MVPS) 5500 systems to the project. Building and construction was completed by Downer Group, which left the solar sector in February.

The project consists of Limondale 1 and also 2, including roughly 872,000 panels and an export capacity of 249 MW A/C. The 2nd stage of the project, the 29 MW Limondale 2, was the initial to reach full production earlier this year. With the registration finished, the larger piece of the project can currently start the commissioning procedure.

RWE Renewables Senior Asset Manager, Peter Veljkovic, also acknowledged the effort of all events entailed to accomplish the enrollment landmark. "The effort, cumulative initiative and also joint strategy made use of by AEMO as well as TransGrid, throughout this procedure, has been essential in accomplishing enrollment," he said. "Limondale Solar Farm many thanks all those entailed particularly the site construction groups and also our consultants and suppliers all of which have been essential in attaining this milestone."