| Solar River Project | |
| Coordinates: | -33.78°N 139.38°W |
| Country: | Australia |
| Location: | north of Robertstown, South Australia |
| Status: | P |
| Construction Began: | Mid-2022 (proposed) |
| Solar Type: | PV |
| Solar Collectors: | 628,000 (stage 1) |
| Ps Electrical Capacity: | 200 MW (stage 1) 200 MW (stage 2) |
| Ps Storage Capacity: | 120 MW·h (stage 1) 150 MW·h (stage 2) |
| Website: | solar river project--> |
Solar River Project is a proposed photovoltaic power station planned to be built near Robertstown in South Australia.[1] The project received development approval from the Government of South Australia in June 2018 and was expected to start construction early in 2019.[2] However,, the project was still proposed to be constructed, but work on site was not expected until at least the second half of 2022.[3]
The company developing it is based at the University of Adelaide's venture incubator, ThincLab.[4] The project has the support of the Ngadjuri people and the Regional Council of Goyder.
Stage 1 includes 200 MW of solar photovoltaic electricity generation and a 120 MW·h lithium ion battery system and was proposed to start construction early in 2019, generating its first generation before the end of the same year. Stage 1 will consist of one hundred single-axis tracker arrays each generating 2 MW and approximately [5] for a total area of . Stage 2 is proposed to provide another 200 MW of generation and a 150 MW·h battery.[5]
The land is north of Goyder's Line and north of the Goyder Highway on crown land unsuitable for cropping due to the low rainfall.[6]
Downer Group was engaged in January 2019 for early contractor involvement, with construction expected to commence in July 2019 and stage 1 to take two years to build. The project had provision for three more stages, depending on market and network conditions.[7] In July, the project's website said that construction would start in the fourth quarter of 2019.[8] By November 2019, this had slipped to the first quarter of 2020.[9]
Alinta Energy had committed to buy 75% of the solar farm's output for 15 years,[10] [11] however that contract expired due to delays in the project caused by issues such as the withdrawal of Downer Group as EPC contractor.[12]
The grid-connected battery will be supplied by GE Renewable Energy. It is expected to be 100MW/300MWh, larger than any grid-connected batteries in the world at the time of its announcement in 2019.[13]