Energy

Large-scale battery storage to transform renewable energy future

The announcement that the world’s largest lithium ion battery will be installed in South Australia by the end of 2017, will transform and fast track reliable renewable energy in Australia, as well as globally, according to a leading energy industry authority Dr Alex Wonhas, Managing Director, Energy, Resources & Manufacturing of global engineering and infrastructure advisory company Aurecon. Under an agreement with the South Australian Government, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s Tesla, and the French renewable energy group Neoen, the battery, three times more powerful than any other system in the world, will be designed to provide power to the grid at times of generation shortfall, as well as providing stability to the network, day and night. “The coupling of renewable energy with large scale battery storage is a fundamental requirement for an affordable, reliable and sustainable energy future for Australia,” said Dr Wonhas, who was previously Executive Director for CSIRO’s environment, energy and resources sector. “South Australia is now set to lead the charge in battery storage that will, in turn, revolutionise the way in which renewable energy is integrated into electricity networks. Aurecon is the Specialist and Technical Engineering Advisor to the Government of South Australia for the implementation of its Energy Plan. The company is providing advice across the entire programme, including the 100 MW battery, emergency gas generator and power supply contracts. The announcement of the world’s largest lithium ion grid connected battery system at 100 MW/129 MWh is the culmination of three months of intensive work by Aurecon. This included evaluation and shortlisting of expression of interest submissions, development of the technical and functional requirements of the system and invitation to supply documents, evaluation of respondent proposals and negotiations to enable the final contract to be signed. Aurecon also supported the Government to engage with various […]

Bungala solar project achieves ‘clean energy’ firsts in Australia

Australia has taken another significant step forward in improving its reliance on clean energy with the recent financial close of the first of two phases of the 300 MWac Bungala Solar Photovoltaic (PV) project near Port Augusta, South Australia. The project, which is being sold to two of Europe’s biggest investors in renewables, the Italian Enel Green Energy and the Dutch Infrastructure Fund, has achieved several industry ‘firsts’. One of several large-scale solar projects proposed for South Australia, it will be the first to begin construction. It is also amongst the first large solar farms to participate in Australia’s frequency control and ancillary services (FCAS) market, using inverter technology to provide voltage control for the grid. Once fully operational, the project will generate sufficient energy for approximately 130 000 homes and assist the grid with ancillary services. Global engineering and infrastructure advisory company Aurecon has been engaged by the EPC contractor Green Light Contractors, subsidiary of Elecnor Australia, to provide design services for Phases One and Two of the solar farm, including preparation of management plans as well as assisting with commissioning of the project. These phases of the Bungala Solar Project form part of a number of large scale solar farms to be built in Australia in 2018. Next year, six new large scale solar farms in Queensland, five in New South Wales and one in Western Australia are set to be constructed. “The Bungala Solar Project will support Australia’s commitment to a greener economy and create a number of jobs in the Port Augusta region for years to come. The project is being fast-tracked and we will be able to see the tangible results within a short amount of time, with the first electricity to be supplied to the grid by the first quarter of next year, with […]

Comment on the Australian Budget

Dr. Alex Wonhas. The policy direction outlined in the 2017-2018 Australian Federal Budget marks a distinct move away from a long-standing and bipartisan market led approach to energy. According to Dr Alex Wonhas, Aurecon’s Managing Director, Energy, Resources & Manufacturing, the policy direction outlined in the 2017-2018 Australian Federal Budget marks a distinct move away from a long-standing and bipartisan market led approach to energy to one of targeted direct intervention and government investment in the energy sector. “The 2017 May Budget contains a number of measures aimed at improving the affordability and reliability of energy in form of investment in infrastructure and institutions,” he said. The Government has reaffirmed its commitment to invest in Snowy Hydro 2.0 and to potentially buy a greater share or even obtain outright ownership from NSW and Vic, who currently own 58% and 29% respectively. The Government has also made a promise to retain Snowy Hydro in public ownership. Mr Wonhas said that the 2017-2018 Australian Federal Budget foreshadows investments in other new generation such as a solar thermal plant at Port Augusta, transmission and storage infrastructure, as well as a $90m energy security plan. “It is true that the areas identified by Government are likely to require future investment. Further detail regarding the energy security plan will be eagerly anticipated by the industry,” said Dr Wonhas. “In order to improve its energy security, Australia will need to find cost effective ways to store or transport energy from where and when it is produced to where and when it is needed as energy supply will become increasingly variable through the expected uptake of renewable energy. “The growth of wind and solar will become less and less dependent on subsidies as these technologies have now reached the tipping point of becoming cost competitive with new […]

Kaeser delivers high quality compressed air to Malabar WWTP

As part of the Malabar Waste Water Treatment Plant Process and Reliability / Renewal Improvement Project being delivered by 4Malabar, an ageing compressed air system at the plant was recently upgraded with three Kaeser CSDX series rotary screw compressors, along with a Sigma Air Manager 4.0 compressed air management system. Australia’s largest water and wastewater service provider, Sydney Water is a State Owned Corporation wholly owned by the New South Wales Government. Sydney Water collects and treats around 1.5 billion litres of wastewater each day through a network of over 25,000 kilometres of wastewater pipes, 677 pumping stations, 14 water recycling plants and 16 wastewater treatment plants. Malabar Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) is Sydney Water’s largest wastewater treatment plant. It has an average daily discharge of almost 500 ML. A significant project was initiated at Malabar WWTP to improve the reliability of the processes that treat wastewater, to ensure Malabar WWTP continues to comply with its environment protection license requirements, improve safety and working conditions and reduce operating costs. This will ensure that Sydney Water continues to deliver great value for their customers and better conditions for their staff. The Project is being delivered by 4Malabar, an alliance between Sydney Water, John Holland, UGL Engineering and GHD. Work on the Improvement Project started in 2014 and is expected to be completed by mid-2019. Since work has commenced, a number of improvements have been completed and include an upgrade of the ageing compressed air system. Compressed air is used for a number of plant site services across Malabar WWTP including valving, pneumatic actuation and sparging. A reliable and efficient supply of quality compressed air is critical to deliver these site services and was therefore a key criteria in selecting the new system. Following a successful tender process, three Kaeser CSDX […]

Air quality: ACOEM Group merges with Indo-Australian company Ecotech

ACOEM Group (EUR 62 million revenue, 450 employees) announces its merger with Ecotech, Indo-Australian specialist in air quality monitoring (EUR 24 million revenue, 220 employees). ACOEM Group’s mission is to help companies and public authorities limit their environmental impact, offering products and services that enable them to prevent noise and vibration pollution, improve air quality, and increase the productivity and reliability of industrial machines. Leveraging this merger as well as its positioning in the high-growth market for monitoring environmental parameters, ACOEM Group seeks to double its sales revenue by 2020. “The extensive expertise Ecotech possesses in air quality complements our well-established know-how in acoustics and vibration, making the ACOEM Group the world’s first company to position itself in the measurement, analysis, and control of all types of environmental parameters,” says Fabien Condemine, CEO, ACOEM Group. “Our merger with Ecotech also enables us to speed up our international growth, notably by opening markets in Australia, India, and Southeast Asia.” “Joining the ACOEM Group is an opportunity for Ecotech to continue its growth, participating in the international success of a group that shares our vision and common values,” says Nicholas Dal Sasso, Managing Director at Ecotech. This external growth operation is consistent with the ACOEM Group’s strong growth over the past five years (from EUR 40 million revenue in 2011 to EUR 62 million in 2015), and it supports a development strategy that seeks to make ACOEM Group the worldwide leader in monitoring environmental parameters. This merger will enable both companies to leverage their expertise and positioning: – Ecotech will develop its expertise in air quality over all the zones covered by ACOEM Group, notably Europe, North America, and Brazil. – ACOEM Group will develop its expertise related to noise and vibration pollution in all the zones covered by Ecotech, notably Australia, […]

Expert calls for grid renationalisation

A publicly owned national electricity grid is the logical solution to Australia’s energy crisis, according to University of Queensland economist Professor John Quiggin. In “Grid Renationalisation – a discussion paper”, published by Flinders University’s Australian Industrial Transformation Institute, Professor John Quiggin said electricity reform in Australia has been a comprehensive failure since the creation of the National Electricity Market (NEM) in the 1990s. “We’re past the point of tinkering; energy instability is compromising our growth and economic progress,” Professor Quiggin said. “Tweaks to the system, such as those being considered in the Independent Review into the Future Security of the National Electricity Market, will not resolve the fundamental failings of a privatised and fragmented system subject to multiple regulators. “The price increases of the past decades and the series of recent breakdowns reflect systemic design flaws, exacerbated by the failure to take appropriate account of the implications of climate change. “The appropriate policy solution is a unified, publicly owned, National Grid encompassing the ownership of physical transmission networks in each state and interconnectors between states. “It would be responsible for maintaining security of supply and planning the transition to a sustainable, zero emissions, electricity supply industry. Professor Quiggin said that some would describe a publicly owned National Grid as “unthinkable”. However he said it was the only coherent response to the failure of neoliberal electricity reform, just as the establishment of a publicly owned National Broadband Network was the only feasible response to the failure of telecommunications reform. “And, in the light of the political upheavals of 2016, the idea that any political possibility should be dismissed as unthinkable appears obsolete,” Professor Quiggin said. AITI Director Professor John Spoehr said the paper lays down a challenge to governments of all persuasions to set aside politics and pursue policy that is […]

World-first universal chute design cuts costs and downtime

A multidirectional rotating underground coal chute system that can be installed in less than a single shift at a typical mine has been developed by Chute Technology in what the Australian technology and manufacturing partnership believes is a world first. The cost-saving universal chute – which can rotate output through 160 degrees left or right – can remove completely the need to custom-manufacture individual chute types to fit the confined spaces and particular angles of individual mines. The versatile bolt-in system – comprising a complete integrated structure from head end to conveyor outlet – features a rotating outlet beneath the head that can be angled to any position required to facilitate product flow. In addition to radically reducing the labour required for manufacture and installation, the chute’s ability to be installed in a fraction of the time of custom chutes minimises downtime by keeping production moving when chutes wear out. “This is a brilliantly simple breakthrough in cost and time saving at a time when the mining industry needs it most to maintain production. The benefits are obvious when you look at the basic concept, but we don’t know of anywhere else in the world where it has been done,” says Chute Technology Partner Mr Tom Woods, whose experience of coal chute manufacture through family company T.W. Woods Construction extends back more than 40 years. The new chute system – of which the first example has already been produced – is the result of the analytical, design and manufacturing experience of each of the three Principal Partners in Chute Technology, who have combined experience of more than 80 years in a wide variety of resource industries including coal, iron ore, alumina and limestone across Australia, the USA, South America and South Africa. The company’s technologies are also applicable to gold, […]

Push to reform electricity market gathers pace

The City of Sydney has teamed up with Australia’s major property industry group and a leading environmental organisation to push for a change to make electricity cheaper and cleaner. Recognising that local generation is a win for the environment, businesses and consumers, the Property Council of Australia and the Total Environment Centre have joined with the City to ask the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) to change the rules that govern the electricity market. Across Australia, a fundamental shift is occurring as more and more businesses and households are generating and exporting local electricity. Local generators range from office buildings with generators in the basement through to sugar mills making electricity from waste heat to residents with rooftop solar installations As well as saving money for themselves, local generation benefits all users by bringing down the costs of transporting power across long distances from remote power stations (can be more than half the cost of electricity bills for both households and businesses). Unfortunately, electricity rules in Australia have not kept pace with change. Under current rules, full network charges are still payable if an office tower with its own generator sends surplus power to the building next door or across the street. This fails to recognise the savings made from not using the long-distance networks of poles and wires. The proposed rule change would ensure local generators receive a credit for surplus power exported to the grid which reflects its economic value – increasing the financial return for local energy projects, making the electricity network more efficient and lowering electricity prices for all consumers over time. Lord Mayor Clover Moore said she was delighted to join the Property Council and the Total Environment Centre to push for a rule change that would encourage local power generation. “For years the City […]

Remote detection of oil & gas infrastructure corrosion

Corrosion and it’s degradation of oil and gas infrastructure-pipelines, rigs, towers and refineries-represents an annual cost of many millions of dollars to the industry. There are thousands of kilometres of pipelines operating in more than 50 countries around the world. They form the gathering systems joining wells to process facilities and the distribution system delivering product to refineries and markets. The overwhelming majority of petroleum pipelines are constructed from metal and, whether buried or on the surface, they are all exposed to a range of physical, climatic and chemical environments that can cause corrosion. The corrosion of steel is accelerated in harsh environments, especially coastal, tropical or desert, where high salt levels or extreme temperatures can accelerate the rate of decay. It is important that owners of high-value assets understand the cost implications of ignoring the effects of corrosion. There are many advantages of planning for corrosion control and mitigation, two of which are that the life of an asset can be extended and maintenance time and costs are reduced. As part of the regular technical program, the Australasian Corrosion Association (ACA) is hosting a one-day technical event in Melbourne on 21 May where the latest challenges and developments in the materials engineering and corrosion control for both onshore and offshore environments will be discussed. Sessions will focus on the remote inspection and the identification of hidden corrosion within oil and gas infrastructure. Speakers and participants will have the opportunity to share their work experiences, case studies, best practices, engineering guidelines, and failure analysis in a technical exchange open forum, aiming to look at new technologies and methodologies to fill the gaps in these industries. The events are aimed at oil and gas industry personnel, such as Asset Managers, Structural, Process and Maintenance Engineers, Specialist Contractors and Asset Condition Inspectors, […]

Green energy orb environmentally outstanding

A spectacular orb-shaped green energy storage facility being installed at one of Australia’s largest beef processing plants is helping to demonstrate how industry can profit from environmental initiatives. The 6000m3 capacity flexible pvc-coated polyester fibre flexible storage tank collects biogas produced by the new Global Water Engineering COHRAL(TM) Covered High Rate Anaerobic Lagoon being installed by CST Wastewater Solutions at Oakey Beef Exports on Queensland’s Darling Downs. To be commissioned next year, the plant will extract green energy biogas (methane) from its waste water streams to replace millions of dollars worth of natural gas currently consumed at the abattoir. The 26m high flexible storage tank – one of the world’s largest of its type – features resilient flexible double membrane storage so that gas produced by the COHRAL plant can be safely stored separately from the gas generator. Use of the separate flexible tank for gas storage provides security against leakage, with gas securely contained in the tank instead of being more loosely contained under lagoon covers. The Sattler biogas storage design selected for Oakey Beef has been tested and proven over decades and now is an integral feature in the design of modern waste water treatment plants worldwide. They are engineered to be permanently gas-tight with high operational reliability and optimum safety. “The safe, durable and environmentally harmonious COHRAL(TM) technology deployed at Oakey Beef can be widely applied worldwide to food, beverage and agricultural and primary processing plants. Oakey Beef Processing and its owners Nippon Meat Packers have taken a far-sighted initiative that opens the way to cleaner, greener and more profitable industry performance,” says CST Wastewater Solutions Managing Director Mr Michael Bambridge, whose company represents the GWE COHRAL(TM technology in Australia and New Zealand. The COHRAL(TM plant (with alternative view of the flexible storage tank above) is expected […]

«‹ 14 15 16 17

News Ticker

Energy