AGL builds $295 million Barker Inlet gas-power station and virtual solar station for 1000 homes
The concept for AGL's virtual residential power plant for 1000 homes
Image courtesy AGL
AGL, South Australia's biggest power producer and retailer, is building the $295 million Barker Inlet gas-fired power station to replace its 50-year-old Torrens A unit at Torrens Island. Torrens Island A unit is only used on days of very high demand.
The Barket Inlet 210 megawatt gas-fired power station is due to be completed in early 2019.
AGL was reported to have shredded its plans for a new generator in the wake of the South Australian government's plans to build a taxpayer-funded gas generator. But the company said it had accepted the government’s assurances that its plant would not be a competitor in the market.
AGL said the new station would help “create a secure energy system” in South Australia.
AGL is also building what was touted in 2017 as the world’s largest virtual residential power plant of its kind, made up of connected batteries, feeding from solar panels on 1,000 Adelaide suburban homes, to form a five-megawatt virtual solar power station.
Launched at the notable 2017 press conference when Labor state premier Jay Weatherill confronted federal Coalition energy minister Josh Frydenberg over criticism of South Australia's neewable push, the project has been hit by delays after AGL suspended the rollout to reconsider the technology, restarting in March 2018 when customers were offered either an LG Chem Resu battery paired with a SolarEdge inverter for $2990 or a Tesla Powerwall 2 for $5490.
The scheme was started with Sunverge batteries, heavily subsidised by AGL and the federal government's Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) providing up to $5 million to support the $20 million project.
AGL has the power to simultaneously discharge power from the batteries into the grid, helping secure the grid when needed. The project is different to standard home battery storage because the batteries' operation can be directed remotely. As well as being used to help power the home they are in, they can also be directed — all at once — to service the grid when overall system stability or reliability is under pressure.