Australian renewable energy utility Flow Power has switched on what it describes as an Australian first “smart” solar farm that has been built on the site of a former racecourse in the town of Berri in South Australia.
The Berri Energy Project features 5.8MW of solar capacity and a 6.7MWh DC-coupled battery energy storage system, that, located at a former racecourse 240km northeast of Adelaide, will soon begin exporting 11,500MWh of energy to the grid each year.
Flow Power is billing the Berri Energy Project as Australia’s first fully operational utility-scale DC-coupled solar and battery energy storage system.
The advantage of this is the ability to automatically respond to fluctuations in the grid, choosing to inject solar into the grid when the prices are high, or store it on site when the prices are low. It also allows for more predictability for the market operator if needed.
“Rolling this tech out is a big step forward and we expect to see many more like it in the future,” Flow Power COO Byron Serjeantson.
“By offering the choice to store or export power depending on market conditions, the Berri site is making renewables more flexible and ultimately more competitive in our transforming energy market.
“We see the power and economics of customer-side participation and energy storage as essential to supporting new renewable energy generation entering the market.”
Technology for the project came from Canadian Solar, SMA, Nextracker, and CATL, and also utilises Flow Power’s own kWatch Controller smart technology that enables the operators to remotely respond to market price signals, optimising and automating the management of the solar farm.
The Berri Energy Project can also provide grid services such as frequency control and ancillary services to help manage system variability and prevent blackouts and outages.
Flow Power says its total renewable energy portfolio now sits at close to 450MW of owned and contracted wind, solar, and storage projects.
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