South Australia unveils first auction as world’s most advanced renewables grid seeks long duration storage

The South Australia state government has appointed ASL to run its first auction for long duration storage, as the world’s most advanced wind and solar grid seeks around 700 MW of new firm capacity over the next six years.

South Australia leads the world in the uptake of wind and solar – which together accounted for 75 per cent of its local electricity demand over the last 12 months – and has set a world-leading target of reaching 100 per cent “net” renewables by the end of 2027.

It already has seven big battery projects operating in the state, and another dozen under construction or contracted, but it is now seeking longer duration storage through the Firm Energy Reliability Mechanism (FERM) that it announced earlier this year.

ASL – formerly known as AEMO Services Ltd, and which is managing the renewable and storage tenders for the federal government’s Capacity Investment Scheme and the NSW renewable infrastructure roadmap – has been appointed scheme administrator and will open the first tender later this month.

The scheme will be open to gas generators and battery storage, with a minimum capacity of 30 megawatts and a minimum eight hours storage.

The tender will seek 700 MW of capacity, of which 400 MW must be in place by November, 2028, with a further 200 MW by late 2029 and 100 MW by 2031.

South Australia has been keen for gas to be part of the mechanism, but given the supply crunch affecting delivery times for gas turbines around the world it may be difficult for any to meet the first deadline of 2028, although the later deadlines may be possible.

South Australia’s push to very high levels of wind and solar is all the more remarkable because it has done it without pumped hydro storage. Various proposals to support such projects were made years ago, but none of the six or so short listed projects was able to stack up financially.

That leaves the option of battery storage and gas generation as the primary source of “firm power”, although other technologies could enter the equation over the long term, such as concentrated solar thermal or even advanced compressed air storage.

ASL CEO Nevenka Codevelle said the tender will open later in October, with bids due in November and the winners to be announced in April or May next year.

“(The tender) is technology neutral, with gas generation and batteries examples of eligible technologies,” she said in a statement.

“As Scheme Administrator, we can only support projects that are in the long-term financial interests of South Australian electricity consumers, which means we’ll be rigorously assessing benefits to system reliability, security and impact on wholesale electricity prices as well as scheme forecast cost and potential cost exposure of bids.”

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