The Bungala Solar Power Farm is a 220 MW solar power farm in Emeroo and Wami Kata near

Port Augusta Port Augusta (''Goordnada'' in the revived indigenous Barngarla language) is a coastal city in South Australia about by road from the state capital, Adelaide. Most of the city is on the eastern shores of Spencer Gulf, immediately south of the ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. The first stage was connected to the grid in May 2018, and the second stage was connected to the grid in November 2018. The project gradually reached full power in 2020.

History

It was expected to be completed and the two stages together able to deliver 220 MW of electric power to the national grid from November 2018. It is being developed on of land which was previously used as an ostrich farm, sheep and cattle station and is owned by the Bungala Aboriginal Corporation, a community employment and social services organisation. The completed project could contribute 220 MW ac to the 132 kV electricity grid from 275 MW dc generation and expects to produce 570 GWh per year. A professional training project is being set up to provide new skills and experience to 70 Aboriginal job seekers as part of the project. It will train them in operations and maintenance for stage 1 and construction of phase 2 of the project.

Construction

The development is on a 19th-century ostrich farm, later used for grazing sheep and cattle, and spans the boundary between the localities of Emeroo and Wami Kata. The project is being built in stages. Stages 1 and 2 will produce a combined 220 MW of electricity. They were developed by Reach Energy and sold to a joint venture of

Enel Green Power Enel Green Power S.p.A. is an Italian multinational renewable energy corporation, headquartered in Rome. The company was formed as a subsidiary of the power generation firm Enel in December 2008. It has operations in five continents generating ...

and Dutch Infrastructure Fund. The builder was Elecnor. Stage 3 is not scheduled to be built by 2024 but could include another 80 MW of generation, or 300 MW battery storage. Stage 3 was to be built if the company won a contract to supply electricity to the state government, however this contract was won by

Aurora Solar Thermal Power Project Aurora Solar Thermal Power Project was a planned solar power tower solar thermal power plant to be located north of Port Augusta in South Australia. It aimed to generate 150 MW of electricity upon completion in 2020, with storage capacity suffic ...

. The entire output of stages 1 and 2 will be bought by

Origin Energy Origin Energy Ltd is an ASX listed public company with headquarters in Sydney. It is a major integrated electricity generator, and electricity and natural gas retailer. It operates Eraring Power Station, Australia's largest coal-fired power ...

. Civil engineering and construction on site was managed by Catcon. The

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union The Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) is Australia's largest Trade union, union in the construction, forestry, wikt:maritime, maritime, Textile manufacturing, textile, Clothing industry, clothing and Shoemaking, footw ...

accused the construction company of unsafe work practices when a construction worker was crushed by equipment on site in February 2018. As the site is from the state capital of

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

where planning approval is granted, there had been some local issues that were not well understood in Adelaide. These related to dust during construction and ongoing contributions into the local economy once construction is complete. The state Planning Commission visited the site in July 2018. The first supply of electricity from one section of 45 MW was connected to the

National Electricity Market The National Electricity Market (NEM) is an arrangement in Australia's electricity sector for the connection of the electricity transmission grids of the eastern and southern Australia states and territories to create a cross-state wholesale ele ...

in May 2018. The entire first phase of the project was commissioned in September and the second phase of the Bungala Solar Project started feeding electricity into the grid in October 2018. Technical issues delayed the project finish until 2020.

Size and operation

The Bungala Solar Power Farm is one of the largest solar farms in Australia. It covers 2000 acres. Phase One has a Max-to-Registered-Capacity ratio of 1:1.23, as the panels are 135 MW DC and the inverters are 110 MW AC. Along with

solar tracking A solar tracker is a device that orients a payload toward the Sun. Payloads are usually solar panels, parabolic troughs, Fresnel reflectors, lenses, or the mirrors of a heliostat. For flat-panel photovoltaic systems, trackers are used to m ...

, this yields a

capacity factor The net capacity factor is the unitless ratio of actual electrical energy output over a given period of time to the theoretical maximum electrical energy output over that period. The theoretical maximum energy output of a given installation is def ...

of 25%, of one the highest in Australia. In 2022, it earned $145 per kW capacity.

References

Energy infrastructure completed in 2018 Solar power stations in South Australia 2018 establishments in Australia {{Australia-powerstation-stub