The Coober Pedy “hybrid” renewables plant
*All monetary values in this post are in Australian dollars. Conversion factors relative to the 2016-2017 construction period are 0.75 for US dollars and 0.62 for Euros.
Background:
Coober Pedy, 2016 population 1,762, is an “electricity island” with no grid connections to the rest of Australia. Its ~12 GWh/year electricity consumption (peak load is around 3 MW) has historically been filled by eight diesel units owned and operated by EnGen and aggregating 3.9MW. Figure 1 is a location map and Figure 2 an aerial view of the town, which is renowned as the world capital of opal mining:
Figure 1: Coober Pedy location map
Figure 2: Aerial view of town
In 2013 Engen began to explore the possibility of replacing Coober Pedy’s diesel generation with renewables:
In 2013, EnGen began investigating the potential to integrate renewable energy into the existing power station to reduce diesel consumption in Coober Pedy. EnGen submitted an Expression of Interest to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s (“ARENA”) Regional Australia’s Renewables Industry Program (IRAR) in November 2013 which ultimately led to the execution of a Funding Agreement with ARENA in July 2014. Construction of the CPRHP commenced in September 2016 and commercial operations commenced on 1 July 2017.
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