REMOTE RENEWABLE ENERGY CONFERENCE

GRAEME MARSHALL

MELBOURNE ~ MARCH 2016

FOCUS

SETuP funding and construction models

Consequent behaviours

Land, procurement & contracts

Consequent behaviours

Expectations and reality

Photo gallery

SETuP = Solar Energy Transformation Program 10 megawatts (MW) of solar power installed across 30

remote Indigenous NT communities over 3 years

Two main components:

• A medium penetration solar rollout:

– Reduce annual fuel use by 15% in over 30 communities

• Nauiyu (Daly River) high penetration solar site:

– 50% fuel savings

– Test integration of new technologies

– Enables diesel engines OFF

SETuP Financing

ARENA

PWC

Grant Funding

($27.5m) $

$

Loan

($27.5m) Diesel Fuel

Savings ($)

SETuP

NTG/Tcorp

Financial model drives behaviours

High political interest in project viability

Focus on diesel prices & short-run inputs

Focus on how the loan payback works

NPV ‘doorstops’ – should certain communities be dropped?

SETuP rollout timing:

2015/16 2016/17 2017/18

4 sites

16+ sites

10 + sites

Timetable drives behaviours

Aggressive timetable pressures learnings

but:

Focuses the mind

Aggressive timetable pressures land availability

but:

Alternative (‘fall-back’) communities are contentious

Construction & Ownership

DC AC

Solar panels PV Controller

Connection point

To community

Power Station

Control Room Communications

Technology drives behaviour

The 10 MW of SETuP is not insignificant in the NT

Interest & involvement

The $55m of SETuP is very significant in the NT

Great expectations

Diesel/gas generation - leave it to experts

PV? Everyone’s an expert!

LAND

Allowed ~ 3 hectares/MW + shading (trees) - ample

Average lease cost is $5500/ha/pa

On average, we produce 560wp/$ of annual lease cost

Lowest is 100wp/$

Highest is 2100wp/$

TECHNOLOGY

Inverters: SMA 25000 Tripower inverters

PV Controller: SMA Cluster Control

Panels: included Hanwha Q Cells, Canadian Solar, Jinko, Conergy and LG – 315 watt

Framing system: Clenergy Solar Terrace, Sigma XL, Conergy Linea

Prices per watt

Capital Cost Item Estimate Emerging Reality

Panel & inverters erected on frames

$3.10 $3.30

Balance of system $0.40 $0.45

Land costs $0.04 $0.037

Project management $0.50 $0.45

PvSyst power production

Section Latitude Average Mwhpa produced

1 MWp solar produces Mwhpa

1 (1.625 MWp) 25 - 22 South 3292.5 2026.1

2 (0.4 Mwp) 22 South 799.1 1997.6

3 (1.3 MWp) 12 South 2470.1 1900.0

ISSUES MANAGEMENT I

Balance: land availability with scheduled ARENA Milestones with climate (Wet)

Manage: Desire for large private pv penetration in SETuP communities

Massage: Solar-diesel hybrid won’t

negatively impact reliability

shorten diesel life

complicate day-to-day operation

drive up O&M

ISSUES MANAGEMENT II

Keep the focus: on SETuP as a whole, try to avoid cherry-picking

Manage Expectations:

of communities for local employment (construction & longer-term)

of NT contractors & suppliers of big SETuP ‘paydays’

of parties that SETuP can be simultaneously a cash cow, a major employment generator and a technological showcase

of everyone that everything will work straight up

FINAL OBSERVATIONS

Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.

Less elegantly - Dates in a calendar are closer than they appear to be.

Data: Is not the plural of anecdote

SETuP

A Photo Journal…

Land & Leases

Areyonga

Land & Leases

Areyonga Power Station – new solar area

being fenced

Early days – complete clearing at Areyonga

Typical Central Australian site – ground cover to be

left & rubbish and shrubs to go

Nyirripi – Buffel grass and other rubbish

Typical satellite installation

Feral animal or culturally important animal?

Nyirripi – undulations on site

Kintore – Time lapse camera on roof of power

station

Time lapse camera

Typical satellite installation

Time lapse camera

Thank You