RedMud Green Energy (RMGE) projects – Solar and BESS Farms
YES Group required engineering support for the development of three South Australian solar & battery storage hybrid farms with the aim of provide approx. 15MW AC of combined generation capacity as part of their Redmud Green Energy (RMGE) project pipeline. These projects are located within Woods Point, South Hummocks and Padthaway localities in South Australia.
RMGE is Australia’s first solar and storage hybrid projects of this nature operating within the traditional energy arbitrage markets (5 minute spot market pricing) as well as the AEMO Contingency Frequency Response Ancillary Services (FCAS) markets.
The generation system at each site includes Solar PV (approx 3.7MW AC, 4.7MWp DC), Battery Energy Storage System (BESS, 1.3MW AC, 2 hour) and dedicated reactive power support equipment (sizing varies between sites from 2.0MVAr to 3.5MVAr) to ensure efficient usage of generation assets due to SA Power Network’s constraints. These systems contained the new Tesla Megapack 2 BESS systems including the first Megapack 2 system successfully energized and commissioned with Australia.
GPA supported YES through the initial feasibility stages of the project enabling funding to be secured and approvals to be granted from SA Power Networks from an electrical connections perspective. On project funding approval GPA were engaged to complete detailed engineering design, control and SCADA system programming as well as on site commissioning including generation witnessing with SA Power Networks for the 3 sites.
GPA successfully coordinated and managed the interfaces between the site generation system and a dedicated, cloud-based forecasting and bidding platform provided by Fluence which is aimed at optimising each BESS system’s revenue based upon the energy spot market and AEMO FCAS markets.
The traditional energy arbitrage operation of these sites was commissioned within December 2022 with FCAS commissioning targeting completion and approval by AEMO in early 2023.
The Hon, Premier Peter Malinauskas had the honour of officially opening the Woods Point site on the 19th Dec, GPA were proud to attend.
GPA’s established partnership with YES has successfully allowed design efficiencies to be gained and utilised throughout each project stage, resulting in time savings and reduced costs. Creating a network of solar farms with consistency of design provides great benefits to electricity supply companies; benefits that are passed on to consumers by provision of reliable services at affordable prices.
GPA successfully collaborated and coordinated with a wide range of project stakeholders including Tesla, Fluence, SA Power Networks, AEMO and others for this complex and unique application.
GPA was proud to provide engineering support to Australia’s first solar and hybrid project in the traditional energy arbitrage market.