The Gatton Solar Research Facility

UQEI-GCI Express Seminar

Prof Paul Meredith ARC DORA Fellow, Centre for Organic Photonics and Electronics

School of Maths and Physics Director UQ Solar, Global Change Institute

Themes

1. The solar PV world

2. UQ Solar

3. The Gatton Solar Research Facility

Apologies to those wanting to hear about our CST work

Pragmatic view on the place of solar in the mix

Global Snapshot 177GW PV Deployed (All); 40GW in 2014

IEA Snapshot of Global PV

Global Snapshot 177GW PV Deployed (All); 40GW in 2014

IEA Snapshot of Global PV

Top Global Utility-Scale PV Plants

Power

Location

Description

Commissioned

300 MW USA, Ca Topaz Solar Farm 2014

290 MW USA, Az Agua Caliente Solar Project 2014

250 MW USA, Ca California Valley Solar Reserve 2013

214 MW India, Charanka

Charanka Park, Patan district PV power plant

2012

200 MWp China, Golmud

Golmud PV power plant 2012

Source: http://www.pvresources.com/PVPowerPlants

PV Under Construction in the USA

Source: http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Top-Ten-PV-Projects-Under-Construction-in-the-US

Key Facts: Solar in Australia

1. Dominated by photovoltaics;

2. >1,200,000 roof top PV systems now installed in AU versus 20,000 in 2008;

3. Level of penetration second only to Japan at this scale;

4. ~4.1GW total installed (IEA);

5. QLD >420,000 systems; ~1250MW; ~ 26.4% of households

6. Most of the rapid increase has occurred in the mortgage belt;

7. Feed in tariffs (net and gross) funded not by the State Governments but spread across electricity users;

8. ACT Reverse Auction - FRV: Royalla bid price $186/MWh; 20MW completed late 2014; 83,000 panels; 37GWh / annum (4500 houses)

9. First utility-scale PV plant on-line 2016 (Nyngan / Broken Hill) – 159MW;

10. Largest current plant 10MW in WA (Greenough River);

http://pv-map.apvi.org.au/animation

Solar Photovoltaics – $0.7-$1.0/watt (manufacturing)

Crystalline Silicon (c-Si) -80% of the market -Mature technology (> 30 years) -Typical module efficiencies 12-17% -Module wholesale price $1-$2/ watt -Panels typically 150-250 watts

Thin Film (a-Si; CdTe, CIGS, CIS) -20% of the market -Mix of maturity (30 yrs – 10 years) -Typical module efficiencies 6-14% -Module wholesale price < $1/ watt -Panels typically <150 watts -FirstSolar <$0.7/ watt manufacturing

Concentrating PV -Efficiencies > 40% -Utility only

UQ Solar: Industry Focused Problems

Immediate issues and opportunities for solar power:

– Grids and systems (“Positive Solar Power” – cost and supply quality);

– MW-scale PV and storage integration (thermal, electrical, mechanical, electrochemical);

– Control systems;

– Off-grid and remote area applications;

– Energy market economics and policy development;

– “Industrial” solar (desalination, feed water, hydrogen production, etc.);

– Impact of transport electrification.

A Culture Changing Project: The UQ MW Array (http://solar-energy.uq.edu.au/)

Key Statistics: -7.3 GW hr in 45 months; -17.8% Capacity Factor; -6.95MKg of CO2 mitigated; - > 2000 visitors; -~ $1M in savings; -On-track for 8-10 year payback; -Data being used by industry, government and research organisations; -Still the largest roof-top PV system in AU; -An exercise in learning through doing for local generation.

The AGL Utility PV Project

AGL (project developer, off-take and equity stakeholder) + FirstSolar (EPC + equity stakeholder)

Project Details:

- 103MW at Broken Hill New South Wales

- 56MW at Nyngan New South Wales

- $450M total; $130M (ARENA) + $65M (New South Wales Government)

- Education Investment Fund Research Infrastructure Program $40.7M (UQ LRO + UNSW)

Gatton Solar Research Facility: What is it?

1. Gatton PV Pilot Plant: 3.275MW fixed, single axis and dual axis trackers;

2. 37,000 First Solar CdTe panels; 5 centralised SMA inverters;

3. 10 hectares; largest plant in QLD;

4. Battery Storage Research Station: 600kWp, 760kWh battery (Kokam);

5. Bespoke Central Control System;

6. Education Investment Fund Infrastructure Project ($40.7M):

• Gatton Solar Research Facility;

• UQ Data Hub;

• UQ Power System Research Station;

• UNSW Power Systems Interface Laboratory (Real Time Digital Simulator)

The Gatton Solar Research Facility

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1540gqz1zkv6pmi/AAABKTPZHUwy4pmKWl08Bi8ua?dl=0

The Gatton Solar Research Facility

Gatton Solar Research Facility: What are we going to do with it?

1. How we integrate MW-scale solar into a Fringe of Grid (11kV) network (connection arrangements and requirements)?

2. Does tracking work ($/kW/kWh)?

3. How do we best use and optimise battery storage to support the grid and provide value?

4. What are the optimal control strategies for demand-load management and efficient use of solar PV?

5. What impact will this system ultimately have on the local area network?

6. What is the business model?

7. How could large amounts of solar energy (intermittent or baseload) impact the NEM?

8. Theoretical and at scale practical tests of:

• Policy;

• Business models;

• Usage and operational regimes;

• New technology;

• Off-grid configurations.

Gatton Solar Research Facility: The Triple Bottom Line

1. Provide clean energy for UQ;

• “Skill-up” our university in clean energy systems;

• Sustainability agenda;

• Network connection and management;

2. MW-scale integration research facility;

• Technology test bed, etc.

• Business case;

3. Teaching and engagement;

• UG programs;

• PG research;

• Government, industry and the community knowledge sharing;

• Local industry development.

An exercise in “learning through doing”

AU Off-Grid and F-o-G

Off-grid

- Energy impoverished communities;

- Opportunity for innovation;

- More efficient off-grid industrial sites;

- Ideal test sites (no transmission);

- Current price >$0.40/kWh;

- Diesel displacement;

- National learnings to international translation.

F-o-G

- Network support;

- Help stabilise supply;

- Agricultural integration;

- Network upgrade avoidance;

- Hybrid plant development;

- Storage + efficiency.

AU Off-Grid and F-o-G: Hybridisation

Dr Liam Wagner, Stephen Gwyn-Jones)

The Ultimate Place to Build a Solar Plant

Take Home Messages

• Australia and QLD has world-class solar resource;

• Costs of PV are plummeting and consumer-level grid-parity is here if one ignores the network costs – which we can’t; commercial-industrial parity is ~ 2-3 years off;

• Off-grid and F-o-G: massive opportunities for network support and cost / quality of

supply;

• UQ has an emerging solar research program spanning basic science through engineering to policy, regulation and economics – focus on learning through doing; 5MW of Solar Power by mid-2015;

• Gatton Solar Research Facility – the jewel in the crown;

• Grids and networks, regulation, legislation are all current stumbling blocks to deploy more distributed and intermittent power whether it be solar or something else – this is where our focus should be SYSTEMS!

You Have to Love Nuclear Power

My thanks: Geoff Dennis and his team @ P&F; EIF Department of Education; ARENA; The Gatton Community; UQ Solar and the GCI team; First Solar, AGL and UNSW; ENERGEX; The subbies who built it!

AU Off-Grid and F-o-G