Aging infrastructure is among factors delaying major solar and wind projects in parts of Australia.
The issue is most acute in western Victoria but is also being felt in northern Queensland and south-west NSW, RenewEconomy reports.
Many new projects are being told they face significant curtailment without either adding battery storage or old-style machinery known as synchronous condensers to deal with system strength issues.
Both options are causing problems for developers in terms of extra costs and delays.
It is also likely to impact on electric vehicle uptake in areas where there’s concern about power supply.
Project developers in Victoria were warned by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) that up to half of their output was at risk of being wound back.
Further issues were raised when new generation requirements and system strength guidelines were outlined, including some opposed by a number in the renewable industry, concerned they were being loaded with unnecessary costs.
A recent briefing by AEMO head of operations Damien Sanford at a meeting hosted by the Clean Energy Council attracted more than 100 renewable energy professionals, utility executives and financiers, many concerned about the situation.
Victoria’s plans to reach 40% renewables by 2025 and the choice of winners of its 650mW auction could be among areas impacted.
Some accuse AEMO of over-reach and networks of being heavy-handed and inflexible, and in some cases of changing the rules mid-stream. AEMO, however, insists that its proposals were well known years in advance and should have been well understood by all parties, RenewEconomy says.
Physical constraints of the grid, as well as archaic rules and the lack of visibility about the networks sometimes leading to a rival project being discovered in the same area are also held out as issues.
Grid upgrades and extensions are needed, but they could take years, RenewEconomy reports.
“We are nervous at the moment that pendulum is swinging pretty quickly here,” Clean Energy Council chief executive Kane Thornton says.
AEMO has been warning of the issue, particularly in Victoria, for several years, and is working hard to resolve the issue with developers, AEMO systems capability head Christian Schaefer told RenewEconomy.
He says there’s no intention or interest from AEMO to hold anyone up from connecting to the power system.
But some areas have reached their limit, and part of the problem is attributed to the speed in which solar farms can be permitted and constructed (six to nine months) had caught up with the system’s ability to upgrade infrastructure (five to seven years, depending on environment impact and community opposition).
Much of this would be solved through the Integrated System Plan, the AEMO blueprint for how the grid should evolve to one dominated by renewables over the next 10 to 20 years, Shaefer says.
