Neoen acknowledges the Ngadjuri people, Traditional Owners of the land on which Goyder Renewables Zone will harvest and store the energy of the wind and sun. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present.

LEARNING HUB

We have developed a Learning Hub to support local schools with curriculum-linked content about electricity and renewable energy.

Take a look at the stand-alone website which features videos, interactive game & lesson plans for upper primary & lower secondary students.
neoenlearning.com

Launch Learning Hub

What does a big battery do?

Ever wondered what a big battery does?

Neoen and AusNet have made a wonderful animation that explores the many abilities of a grid-scale or big battery and the role they play in supporting the clean energy transition.

Case study: Neoen BulGANA cOMMUNITY gRANT

See how a local primary school in Bulgana, Victoria installed wind and solar, thanks to a Neoen community grant, to help students learn about renewable energy.

About Agrisolar

2017 Parkes Trial
Our first sheep grazing trial was conducted at Parkes Solar Farm in 2017 during a high rainfall and high produce year. It was a joint exercise between Neoen, local landowners and solar construction company Bouygues.

The 3 week trial involved 400 sheep within a 15 hectares zone to help reduce dry grass under the solar panels in order to manage grass fire hazard. It successfully showed that this combined land use had positive outcomes for farmers and solar operators.

2019 Expert Review
By 2019 sheep grazing had begun on all five of our operating solar farms in NSW and Victoria. These activities were assessed by an independent grazier expert to document existing practices and make recommendations on how to integrate grazing into each stage of the solar farm’s lifecycle.

2020 CEC Agrisolar Report
We are leading a collaboration with the Clean Energy Council to bring together research, case studies and lessons from across the industry into a ground-breaking Agrisolar Report. This will help to guide and inform farmers, solar farm operators and government on how best to integrate agriculture and solar.

We are also continuing to explore other opportunities for combined land use including biodiversity and conservation, indigenous crops and carbon farming.

There are no issues with sheep-grazing co-existing with solar farms. It’s an opportunity and win-win for farmers and renewable energy producers.

Tom Warren, Land Owner

Agrisolar Guide

As pioneers of agrisolar Neoen led an industry -wide initiative to share emerging lessons on agrisolar which resulted in the development of Australia’s first Agrisolar Guide.

Our industry body, the Clean Energy Council brought together research, case studies and lessons from around the world to inform farmers, solar farm operators on ways to integrate agriculture with large-scale solar.

Download the report here.

Basic Function

When there is excess energy, the battery will charge. When there is high demand for energy, the battery will discharge.

Frequency support

To maintain the stability of the system, the grid has frequency control. The battery discharges electricity in response to frequency changes. The battery will also add competition to the market which helps reduce consumer electricity prices, helping to reduce electricity costs.

Virtual Inertia

As with vehicle suspension on an uneven road, inertia services are essential for stabilising the grid. A big battery can enable the advanced power inverters to emulate the existing inertia services being supplied by an ageing fleet of fossil fuel power plants. This service is currently being trialled at Hornsdale Power Reserve.

Network support

Grid-scale batteries can provide dynamic warp-speed responses so existing transmission lines can operate at full capacity. Like adding another lane to a freeway, the battery can unlock additional capacity on existing transmission networks – saving customers millions of dollars in expensive transmission line upgrades.

Firming renewables

Along with wind and solar technologies, large-scale batteries help to firm variable renewable energy. Batteries are an essential component in the stable transition to clean electricity and achieving emissions reduction targets.

Case study: SA Big Battery

Neoen’s Hornsdale Power Reserve aka SA’s Big Battery is a 150 MW battery located next to Hornsdale Wind Farm near Jamestown in South Australia. Launched in 2018 and delivered in partnership with Tesla, it was the world’s first big battery.

In its first two year’s of operation HPR reduced costs by over $150 million for SA energy consumers – these reports provide more details:

Aurecon Report, 2018 –Technical & Market Impact

Aurecon Report, 2019 –Technical & Market Impact