Bungala Solar Power Project

The Bungala Solar Power Project is a solar power farm in Emeroo and Wami Kata near Port Augusta in South Australia. Stage One was connected to the grid in May 2018. The second and final stage was connected to the grid in early November 2018.[1] It is expected to be completed and the two stages together able to deliver 220MW of electric power to the national grid from November 2018.[2] It is being developed on 800 hectares (2,000 acres) of land which was previously used as an ostrich farm, sheep and cattle station and is owned by the Bungala Aboriginal Corporation, a community employment and social services organisation.[3] The completed project contributes 220MW to the electricity grid from 275MWdc generation and expects to produce 570 GWh per year.[4]

Bungala Solar Power Project
CountryAustralia
Locationnortheast of Port Augusta, South Australia
Coordinates32.42°S 137.84°E / -32.42; 137.84
StatusOperational
Construction began2017
Commission date
  • September 2018
Construction costUS$315m
Owner(s)Enel Green Power and Dutch Infrastructure Fund
Solar farm
TypeFlat-panel PV
Collectors420,000
Site area800 hectares (2,000 acres)
Power generation
Nameplate capacity220 MW
Annual net output570 GW·h
External links
Websitewww.enelgreenpower.com/country-australia/bungala

A professional training project is being set up to provide new skills and experience to 70 Aboriginal job seekers as part of the project. It will train them in operations and maintenance for stage 1 and construction of phase 2 of the project.[5]

Construction

The project is being built in stages. Stages 1 and 2 will produce a combined 220MW of electricity. They was developed by Reach Energy and sold to a joint venture of Enel Green Power and Dutch Infrastructure Fund. The builder was Elecnor. Stage 3 is not scheduled to be built at this stage, but would include another 80MW of generation, and battery storage.[6] Stage 3 was to be built if the company won a contract to supply electricity to the state government, however this contract was won by Aurora Solar Thermal Power Project. The entire output of stages 1 and 2 will be bought by Origin Energy.[3]

Reach Energy was advised by PwC throughout the development of the project. PwC claims to have operated as a partner, taking on a share of the financial risk, rather than being paid fees for services provided.[7] The development is on a 19th-century ostrich farm, later used for grazing sheep and cattle, and spans the boundary between the localities of Emeroo and Wami Kata.[8] Civil engineering and construction on site was managed by Catcon. The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union accused the construction company of unsafe work practices when a construction worker was crushed by equipment on site in February 2018.[9]

Solar panels and some of the construction materials were delivered to the site by Bowmans Rail who established a new intermodal rail terminal adjacent to the construction site on the former Leigh Creek railway line.[10]

As the site is 300 kilometres (190 mi) from the state capital of Adelaide where planning approval is granted, there had been some local issues that were not well understood in Adelaide. These related to dust during construction and ongoing contributions into the local economy once construction is complete. The state Planning Commission visited the site in July 2018.[11]

The first supply of electricity from one section of 45MW was connected to the National Electricity Market in late May 2018.[12][13] The entire first phase of the project was commissioned in September and the second phase of the Bungala Solar Project started feeding electricity into the grid at the end of October 2018.[14]

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References
  1. Parkinson, Giles (2 November 2018). "Bungala – second stage of what will be country's biggest solar begins generation". Renew Economy. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  2. "New Developments". Australian Energy Market Operator. 31 July 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  3. "Construction to begin on Port Augusta wind and solar farms in 2017". ABC News. 11 April 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  4. Djordjevic, Marija (31 May 2018). "Bungala Solar Project starts generating to grid". PV Magazine. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  5. "In Australia, Bungala Solar Means Opportunity". Enel Green Power. 15 June 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  6. Parkinson, Giles (11 April 2017). "Huge 300MW solar farm begins construction near Port Augusta". Renew Economy. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  7. "PwC supports Reach Solar energy on Bungala Solar PV project" (Press release). PwC Australia. 10 April 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  8. "Bungala Solar Project - 300 MW Solar Voltaic Electricity Generation plant" (PDF). Application on Notification - Crown Development. 20 October 2016. 010/V031/16. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  9. Pengelley, Jill; Jones, Erin (19 February 2018). "WA man dies as union claims site 'unsafe'". The West Australian. Retrieved 21 February 2018 – via Pressreader.
  10. Green, Amy (15 March 2018). "Port Augusta Intermodal open for business". The Transcontinental. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  11. Balsamo, Marco (19 July 2018). "State Planning Commission visits Upper Spencer Gulf". The Transcontinental. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  12. Green, Amy (1 June 2018). "First output from Bungala". The Transcontinental. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  13. "Australia's biggest solar farm switches on in Port Augusta". 15 May 2018.
  14. "Bungala Solar Farm goes fully online as Australia's biggest solar project to date". 5 November 2018.


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