Triple Play: Wind/Solar/Storage Optimization at the Kennedy Energy Park in Australia

#EnergyStorage : Australia continues to push the envelope on market opportunities for storage w/the solar/wind/storage Kennedy Energy Park w/ 43.5 MW of wind, 15 MW of solar & 2 MW/4 MWh of Tesla Powerpacks. Referred to as "Near Baseload" power, they are leveraging the synergistic balancing between daytime solar & nighttime wind, and using energy storage to smooth out the three technologies "clip the peak" & dispatch during times of high demand.  http://bit.ly/2zd30E7 

Velerity Insight: Increasing penetration of variable renewable energy resources is creating concerns on the part of grid operators and other industry observers and participants on issues regarding grid stability and economics.  These concerns in some cases are chimera's where utility companies are concerned about incursive impacts on their core business models with serious and potentially severe financial implications.  Increasing DER penetration also is having real and devastating impacts on the economic viability of extant generation assets and future plans for generation investment, both fossil and non-fossil.  

In Germany, for example, the growth in renewable energy resulted in reduced annual operating hours for natural gas based generation resources, resulting in significant financial losses for both EON and RWE.  Over the time period from January, 2008 to now, RWE lost 85.04 billion Euros in value (a 77.63% drop) and EON lost 85.04 billion Euros in value (an 80.17% drop). These losses are devastating to utilities, illustrative of the existential threat facing utility companies around the world associated with increasing penetration and economic competitiveness of renewable energy resources. 

Changes in grid economics are forcing utility companies to implement a range of both defensive and offensive tactics. A number of utility companies are increasing their participation and investments in unregulated renewable energy projects, while other utilities are focusing on strengthening their positions as regulated distribution companies.

The Kennedy Energy Park in AUstralia is 50% owned by Toyota and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), illustrating how established energy and transportation companies are participating in high growth business opportunity associated with the great energy transformation. 

Tesla Powerpacks Staged for Installation at the Kennedy Energy park in north Queensland, Australia.