Cabonne Shire Council (CSC) have commenced the journey of ‘Electrifying Cabonne’, making smarter use of existing electrical connections and replacing fossil fuelled plant and machinery with their modern, electric alternatives.

Central to this strategy is investment in a solar powerplant in the order of 3.0MW with a DC coupled BESS at the Eugowra Wastewater Treatment Plant. The powerplant will be used to provide renewable electricity to all Council sites via an Electricity Retailer.

Based on preliminary financial and performance analysis, (based on financial capacity) the optimal size powerplant for CSC is 3MW solar with a 3MW\5.5MWh BESS. Council has received government grant funding of $1.5 million, specifically for BESS provision.

The midscale solar powerplant project is well progressed with an approved Development Application (DA) and network connection agreement (CA) is in draft and expected to be executed in the second half of 2024. The network connection studies, and Connection Access Standard (CAS) have been approved by Essential Energy based on DC-coupled storage with the stipulation of zero grid import.

Essential Energy has granted approval for the installation of the Sungrow SG3400MV central inverter/transformer station, with the solar array set to be constructed utilising the Jurchen Tech PEG™ ground mounting system (E/W). The approved Power plant controller is InAccess PPC.

CSC is open to exploring alternative inverter and battery vendors and designs. However, Essential Energy has informed that switching inverters would necessitate evidence demonstrating comparable performance to the already approved SG3400MV and would require reperforming certain Network studies.