Renewables cheaper than nuclear, coal now and into the future: CSIRO, page-33

No wonder green isn't cheap...

The eye-watering payments being made to big batteries to squash huge solar duck


To try and control, or even squash that solar duck, the market operator and the state government this year have been busy writing first-of-their-kind contracts to three new big battery projects which are now racing to complete construction, and commissioning, before the end of next year.

It has now been quietly revealed how much money these batteries will be paid to soak up solar in the middle of the day, and inject it back into the grid in the evening peak under the so-called Non-Co-optimised Essential System Services (NCESS) procurement process.

According to the data released by the Australian Energy Market Operator, French company Neoen, which has contracted 197 MW of capacity from the 219 MW/ 877 MWh Collie battery it is now building, will be handsomely rewarded.
It will get paid $38.56 a megawatt (or a total of $7,556 per half hour interval) for being available to soak up minimum demand in the middle of the day, and $154.26 per MW (or a total of $30,389 per half hour interval) for being available in the evening peak.

The payments itemised by AEMO to Neoen’s Collie battery – which will use Tesla Megapack technology – equate to around $304,000 a day.

Assuming that the contract runs on a constant basis over two years (and that is not 100 per cent clear) that translates into $111 million a year for the two-year contract.

So we now paying for a service rather than the hardware to ensure our power security.

Need to add that to your OPEX....poor old consumer