RES switches on spinning machine to support big Victorian wind farm

Renewable energy developer RES has announced that it has switched on a synchronous condenser – a big spinning machine that provides system strength to the grid – to support the second stage of its Murra Warra wind farm in western Victoria.

The inauguration of the 60Mvr syncon has enabled the Murra Warra 2 wind project to leap to the next “hold point” of its commissioning process – 150MW – before moving towards its full capacity of 209MW.

Murra Warra is located in a relatively weak part of the grid – in the West Murray region and on what has become known as the “rhombus of regret”, largely because of the shape of the local network and the constraints that were imposed on new wind and solar farms in the area.

The wind project was required to install the syncon as part of the now abandoned “do no harm” rules that put the responsibility of solving system strength issues in a particular region onto new projects. That responsibility has now been shifted to the transmission network operators.

RES says the syncon, supplied by GE along with the turbines, will support system strength in the West Murray region for the stable operation of the wind farm, as well as other renewable generators in the area. 

Anthony Berzi, the head of construction of RES, said while there had been criticism from many quarters about construction and commissioning delays, he wanted to acknowledge the flexibility and co-operation of the market operator, AEMO, which has responsibility for connections in Victoria.

“It’s great to see the working relationship that RES has fostered with AEMO has enabled a collaborative effort to resolve the technical challenges that have confronted the project,” he said in a statement.

“RES believes that without the tireless work of the AEMO team, the project would not be as advanced as it is.”

Both the 220MW Murra Warra 1 and the 209MW Murra Warra 2 wind projects are owned by Partners Group, after being initially developed by RES and Macquarie, the latter’s first major move into wind generation in Australia.

Murra Warra 1 has a long term contract with Telstra and other corporate buyers for the bulk of its output, while Murra Warra 2 struck a deal in 2019 for a long term contract with Snowy Hydro for what was then described as record low prices in the low $40/MWh.

That compares to the average wholesale electricity price across the main grid in the June quarter of nearly seven times that much. RES has the construction and asset management contract.