SolarReserve Australia II Pty Ltd, who own the Aurora Solar Energy Project near Port Augusta in South Australia, will soon be acquired by 1414 Degrees (14D).
The Aurora Solar Energy Project has SA Government development approval for a 70MW solar PV farm and 150MW of generation from a concentrated solar thermal plant (CST). South Australian company 1414 Degrees proposes to use the site to pilot its world leading TESS-GRID technology.
The electricity firming services will be developed to a similar scale as the previous project.
“We will be using South Australian technology to create a large-scale, thermal energy storage plant near Port Augusta able to supply reliable power on demand to the national grid,” 1414 Degrees Executive Chairman, Dr Kevin Moriarty, said.
Government and stakeholder approvals will be sought to vary or submit a new development application to provide up to 400MW of solar PV together with the installation of the TESS-GRID technology.
1414 Degrees aims to progressively scale up the storage capacity to several thousand MWh. A TESS-GRID at this scale would be able to supply many hours of dispatchable electricity with spinning reserve from its turbines and a range of frequency control ancillary services (FCAS) to support grid stability.
1414 Degrees’ electrically charged TESS-GRID could also buy and store electricity generated by other renewable farms on the high voltage transmission network in the region, strengthening firming services and earnings from market arbitrage.
