Fluence wins auto-bidding contracts with wind and solar farms feeding Telstra

US-based technology provider Fluence says its automated trading platform has been deployed at a further two renewable energy projects in Australia, the 232MW Murra Warra 1 wind farm in Victoria and the 88MW Emerald solar park in Queensland.

The two projects, both of which were originally developed RES Australia, both also have long-term power purchase agreements to supply clean energy to Telstra Energy and its offtake partners.

Telstra and Fluence said on Wednesday that the trading platform would help to optimise the performance of both the Murra Warra and Emerald generators on their respective grids in Victoria and Queensland.

The Fluence IQ Bidding Application works by analysing thousands of variables to provide leading price forecasting and to optimise bidding and dispatch in the National Electricity Market (NEM).

This includes further maximising generation when demand is high, or avoiding generation during periods of oversupply and negative prices – or in the case of big batteries, charging up at times of low demand.

Fluence boasts that its trading platform – by analysing thousands of variables – can increase revenue for wind and solar asset owners and operators by up to 10 per cent over a 12-month period.

In August of 2021, the platform was deployed at the 333MW Darlington Point solar farm in NSW, at the time Australia’s largest operating solar farm, owned by UK-based Octopus Investments and Edify Energy.

“We are very pleased to be working with Telstra Energy to maximise the performance of two of its key sources of clean energy and providing them a solution to navigate the volatility and complexities of Australia’s energy market,” said Fluence chief digital officer Seyed Madaeni.

“The NEM’s shift to ‘five-minute settlement’ last year, where the market is both dispatched and settled at five-minute intervals, requires renewable energy assets to have extremely accurate price forecasting abilities to ensure they avoid any adverse pricing events,” Madaeni added.

Located in North Western Victoria, Murra Warra 1 is currently undergoing an expansion to add a second stage that on completion will see its 99 wind turbines produce more than 1,800 GWh annually — enough electricity to power about 420,000 average homes each year.

Emerald Solar Park, located in the Central Highlands Region of Queensland, has been generating since late 2018 and was one of Australia’s first renewable energy projects to secure a major corporate offtake agreement.