New research study seeks to quantify the network benefits from deploying solar thermal electricity generation in the NEM

Electricity network augmentation costs are currently the largest contributor to regulated electricity cost increases in Australia’s National Electricity Market, contributing nearly half of the average 18% increase in prices that took effect in New South Wales on 1 July 2012.

Recent studies in Europe, the US and Australia have identified potential for concentrating solar thermal (CST) generation to assist in reducing future network augmentation costs.

Network investment of over $45 billion is planned across Australia in the current regulatory period to 2014/15, with almost $15 billion of this investment driven by capacity constraints due to increasing peak demand.  A similar level of network investment may be required in the following period to 2020, and the draft Energy White Paper forecasts network investment of up to $120 billion to 2030.

AUSTELA, the Institute for Sustainable Futures (UTS) and the Centre for Environmental and Energy Markets (UNSW) will shortly commence a new study – ‘The Potential Network Benefits of Solar Thermal Electricity Generation in the NEM’ to:

  • identify and map locations where CST could provide cost-effective network support, and
  • quantify the value that providing network support services could yield for CST electricity generators, and the resulting cost-effective CST capacity that could be installed between now and 2020.

The study is being undertaken in collaboration with major distribution network service providers Essential Energy (NSW) and Ergon Energy (Qld), and with funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

CST output is by nature aligned to Australia’s dominant summer peak demand, and thermal inertia inherent in CST systems provides a high level of predictability for a renewable energy source.   Adding thermal storage increases a CST plant’s capacity factor and dispatchability, allowing CST plants to deliver power when it is most needed in the network.

Because CST can be deployed with or without storage, at a variety of scales, and can be hybridized (for example with biomass or natural gas) grid integration and the potential network services offered by CST systems are remarkably flexible. 

This collaborative study builds on the findings of the recently released review ‘Realising the Potential of Concentrating Solar Power in Australia’, funded by the Australian Solar Institute.  As with that review, the new study is intended to assist regulators, policy-makers, investors and market participants better assess the value and benefits of CST electricity generation in Australia’s energy system.

‘The Potential Network Benefits of Solar Thermal Electricity Generation in the NEM’ commences in September and is due to report by March 2013.

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Contact Details

Australian Solar Thermal Energy Association Ltd
ACN: 149 005 210
PO Box 6127
O'Connor
ACT 2602, Australia