New lithium-ion batteries have been installed at the Kalkarindji solar plant.
Epuron successfully installed the new batteries, supplied by Toshiba, and replaced the existing lead acid batteries.
The new batteries will improve the battery system performance at the solar plant, allowing for a significantly larger number of cycles and increasing the operating life.
The batteries and cloud predictive technology are used together to smooth the output of the solar generator during cloud events, which enables high penetration solar generation into the diesel mini-grid.
The Kalkarindji solar plant makes up one of three solar power stations at Epuron’s TKLN Solar in the Northern Territory.
TKLN Solar has a combined capacity of 1MW and has been contributing emission-free power to remote communities in the Northern Territory since January 1, 2013. The three solar power stations are capable of providing high instantaneous solar penetration (up to 80 per cent of power demand at any instant) and up to 30 per cent of the average daily electricity consumed at each community.
Each of the TKLN Solar power stations has a sophisticated battery backup Grid Stability System (GSS) which maximises solar energy input to the existing diesel grid without affecting the diesel generators or the continuous supply of power to the community. The large size of these systems and their high renewable energy contribution distinguishes them from other remote hybrid systems in Australia.
