Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park

The Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park is proposed to be a large wind farm and solar farm south of Port Augusta in South Australia, Australia. The solar farm is planned to be at the northern end of the site, west of the Augusta Highway and immediately south of Sundrop Farms. The wind turbines will be on both sides of the Augusta Highway, extending south as far as the road to Horrocks Pass.[1] Construction is intended to start mid-2020 and take about 18 months to complete.

Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park
Country	Australia
Coordinates	32°34′01″S 137°51′22″E
Owner(s)	DP Energy Iberdrola
External links
Website	dpenergy.info/parep/

The project has been developed by DP Energy, but prior to construction, Spanish company Iberdrola committed to investing A$500 million and will eventually own stage 1 after DP Energy manages its construction.[2]

Stage 1 is planned to comprise 210MW of wind generation and 110MW of solar generation. Stage 2 remains owned by DP Energy and is proposed to include more solar photovoltaic generation and a grid connected battery.[3] The developer claims that the combination of wind, solar, battery and synchronous condensers combine to create a renewable energy power station.[4]

The wind turbines were originally approved to have a maximum height (to the tip of the blades) of 150 metres (490 ft) but in June 2019, this approval was increased to 185 metres (607 ft).[5] The revised plan raises the hub height to 107.5 metres (353 ft), nominal generating capacity of each turbine to 4.5MW, and reduces the number of turbines from 59 to 50.[6] The wind turbines will be supplied by Vestas and solar components supplied by Downer Group.[7]

References

1. "Project". Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park. DP Energy. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
2. Russell, Chris (14 January 2020). "$500m from Spanish energy giant Iberdrola kickstarts DP Energy's Port Augusta renewable project". The Advertiser. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
3. Parkinson, Giles (15 January 2020). "South Australia's biggest wind solar hybrid project gets financial green light". Renew Economy. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
4. "Stage 2 Project". Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park. DP Energy. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
5. Green, Amy (19 June 2019). "Energy Park plans: increased turbine height causes concern". The Transcontinental. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
6. "Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park (Variation)" (PDF). South Australian Planning Commission. 3 April 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
7. Gameng, onica (14 November 2017). "Vestas and Downer to deliver $600m Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park SA". Retrieved 15 January 2020.