THE HORNSDALE POWER RESERVE, LARGEST BATTERY SYSTEM IN AUSTRALIA

The Hornsdale Power Reserve, HPR, battery system, 100 MW/129 MWh, in Australia, was the largest battery in the world in 2017. It is located near a 315-MW, French-owned wind turbine plant.

 

In 2017, various capital costs of the system were mentioned. About 1.5 y later, documents revealed the turnkey capital cost was about 56 million euros, about US$ 66 million, or 66 million/129,000 = $512/kWh; this was a low price, because Tesla was eager to obtain the contract. The URLs show the turnkey capital cost and an aerial photo of the system on a 10-acre site.

In 2019, the HPR rating was increased to 150 MW/193.5 MWh


https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/12/26/teslas-enormous-battery-in-a...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornsdale_Wind_Farm

https://reneweconomy.com.au/revealed-true-cost-of-tesla-big-battery...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornsdale_Power_Reserve

 

NOTE:

- It is important to specify battery capacities, such as the capacity of 100 MW/129 MWh for the HPR. One without the other makes no sense.
- Prices of just the batteries is one thing, turnkey capital cost of an entire system is quite another.
- Tesla had to airship the entire Tesla supply from the US to Australia to comply with tight schedules.

 

Modes of Operation

 

The HPR revenues are derived from its primary functions, which are:

 

- The FCAS market, i.e., grid regulation. The battery rapidly performs small charging/discharging to help maintain grid frequency within narrow ranges, as specified by the grid operator. This service provides most of the revenues.

- Daily charging when wholesale prices are low, daily discharging when wholesale prices are high, a.k.a., arbitrage. This service provides a minor part of the revenues. See URL.

 

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7557323efa6f050010a775fcc5c9c8...

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/04/05/grid-scale-battery-nonsense-...

 

If called on by the grid operator, the battery may serve to:

 

- Help mitigate the effects of load-shedding blackouts.
- Help provide stability to the grid during times when other generators are started, during times when sudden wind output decreases occur, or during times other network issues occur.

 

This chart shows cumulative net charge/discharge of the battery vs flows on the Heywood interconnector and the regional reference price (the actual flows on the battery are the rate of change of the cumulative position, which reveals losses in the system as it increases to a multiple of the capacity over the period). At the time, Heywood was thermally limited to 600 MW import, 500 MW export.

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7557323efa6f050010a775fcc5c9c8...

 

This chart shows the output from the Hornsdale wind plant and the charge/discharge of the battery (both as flows, and cumulatively)

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d65ddaa1c30c0d75b3bd066d5c92e3...

 

It is evident HPR is not used to stabilize/smooth the highly variable wind plant output. It is primarily used for response to frequency deviations on the grid – the so-called FCAS market – a service which provides its day-to-day income.

The monthly charge and discharge volumes give some indication of the modes of operation. The reality has been that the battery has made out like a bandit from FCAS grid stabilization revenues, which have often far exceeded energy arbitrage profits.

 

You can see the latest week’s operations at 5-minute resolution here:

https://opennem.org.au/facility/au/NEM/HORNSDPR/?range=7d&inter...

 

It seems, they had 2-3 days of shutdown. Perhaps they are installing some new Megapacks again – performance was dropping.

 

Because the battery spends a significant portion of its effort on grid frequency support, it performs small charging/discharging, 24/7/365, but, at the same time, it performs daily major charging/discharging for arbitrage purposes. 

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/354b1cfc1f487dd2f78a424b77e63f...

 

General Comments

The below image shows the efficiency (yellow line) decreasing from about 82% from Nov 2017 to about 75% (a loss of 25%) in April 2023, likely due to 5.5 years of aging.

 

The rapid aging may be due to the battery system being discharged and charged almost every day to maximize arbitrage revenues.

 

The HORNSDALE Power Reserve is one of the largest batteries in Australia

 

Almost all days, it is charged when rates are low and discharged when they are high; arbitrage mode.

Daily records show about a 20% round-trip loss; High voltage to High voltage

 

In early years, the batteries were charged to 90 to 100% and discharged to 10 to 0%.

It turned out, such a wide range of charge caused rapid aging, and increased round trip losses to more than 20%

Subsequently, Tesla recommended charging to at most 80% and discharging to no less than 20%, but the damage had been done. The battery was compromised.

 

NOTE: In non-arbitrage mode, such as grid regulation, the throughput is much less, at most 5%, and battery systems will last about 20 years.

 

The battery system capacity was expanded, and the entire system, old and new, is operated as one system.

The daily graphs show about a 20% loss, but capacity is still decreasing, due to rapid aging.

 

Hornsdale is one of the few to provide daily graphs to some people, but not the general public

Others carefully hide their data

 

On top of this misery, the battery systems, in arbitrage mode, last at most 15 years, before recycling/replacement is required.

 

The 2023 turnkey prices of large systems are about $550 to $600 per kWh, delivered as AC. 

With high inflation and high interest rates, there is near-zero prospect of these prices decreasing in the near term, say at least 5 years.

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/battery-system-capital...

 

There is no way, the rich part of the rich world can afford to go that route.
The poor part of the rich world just says, “adios”.

 

The poor part of the world, say no thank you.
We will stick with fossil, nuclear and hydro, for as much, and as long, as we can.

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Annual Revenues

 

Renew-economy has some analysis that benefits from some insider revenue information not available to the public. See URLs

 

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/354b1cfc1f487dd2f78a424b77e63f...

https://reneweconomy.com.au/tesla-big-battery-it-earned-a-lot-more-...
https://reneweconomy.com.au/tesla-big-battery-turns-one-celebrates-...

 

Annual Operating Costs

 

A detailed spreadsheet analysis of the cash flow of HPR was not made for this article, because of a lack of public information. Various items of information would be required, such as:

 

- Return on Investment: Investors likely would require a return on investment of at about 10% per year.

 

- Bank Loan Interest: Bank loans likely would be at about 4% to 5% for 15 years. If $40 million were bank loans, amortizing at 5% per year for 15 years would require annual payments to the bank of $3.8 million per year.

https://www.myamortizationchart.com/15-year/5000-dollars/5_00-percent/

 

- Battery Life time: The life of the battery system would be about 15 years

 

- Battery Degradation: There would be battery degradation due to aging and use, i.e., more resistance to charging, less storage capacity, more resistance to discharging, which would be affected by the average level of daily throughput.

 

- Battery Charging/Discharging Loss: Battery charging/discharging loss in year 1 would be about 20%, on a high voltage AC to high voltage AC basis; higher in subsequent years. See image.

 

- Other Costs: Other costs would occur, such as for insurance, maintenance, operation, and HVAC of the batteries, which need to be kept at about 70F for best operation and longer life.

 

- Direct and Indirect Subsidies: There would be financial benefits to owners from indirect subsidies, such as accelerated depreciation under MARCS (in the US), deduction bank loan interest, etc., and from direct subsidies, such as federal investment tax credit, FTC, state investment tax credit, STC, waiving of sales taxes, waiving of property taxes, etc. See Appendix.

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The other big battery lie is, they will get revenues to cover their costs.

I’ve been looking at the Australian batteries – in particular the original South Australian one the Hornsdale Power Reserve, and the Victorian Big Battery.

The charts shows their cumulative net income since start up, divided between energy arbitrage (charging cheap and discharging at peak prices) and FCAS, which is Australian for frequency support ancillary services – i.e. helping to handle grid frequency variations, because of short term renewables intermittency due to gustiness and clouds for the most part.

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comment image

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It’s very obvious that the HPR has made most of its money from FCAS, with particular periods of gouging accounting for much of it. It has had little competition, since much of the inertia-providing plant in South Australia has been closed or shut out by excess rooftop solar in particular, but also excess wind.

Even now there are only a couple of small batteries in competition.

However, FCAS revenue is likely to be eroded by competition.

In the UK, where battery capacity now exceeds the ancillary-services demand for it, I’ve even seen the daily Dynamic Containment auction clear at negative prices, because batteries can use it to charge up, and bid for the right to do so, eroding margins on the other leg: energy arbitrage.

These days HPR is notionally 150MW/194MWh, though how much of the 194MWh is really operational is perhaps a slightly open question: its round trip efficiency has been on the decline again, and throughputs have fallen, as has income as opportunities appear to have dried up.

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comment image

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VBB is supposedly 300MW/450MWh, so slightly longer duration, but it plainly has been struggling to find profitable trading opportunities.

Of course, it faces direct competition in the FCAS market from the remaining coal plant in Victoria, and there is not the same renewables surplus as in South Australia.

However, if it struggles at 90 minute duration, it is very hard to see how adding storage capacity is going to provide adequate profit opportunities.

It will depend on the creation of volatile markets with alarming swings between massive renewables surpluses and real shortages driving prices upwards.

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comment image

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APPENDIX 1

WIND AND SOLAR SUBSIDIES PROVIDE A BONANZA FOR WALL STREET

 

This URL shows wind and solar prices per kWh would be at least 45% to 55% higher without subsidies, and they would be even higher, if the costs of other items were properly allocated to the owners of wind and solar projects, instead of shifted to others. See below section High Levels of Wind and Solar Require Energy Storage.

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/economics-of-tesla-powe...

 

This URL shows about 2/3 of the financial value of a wind project is due to direct and indirect subsidies, and the other 1/3 is due to electricity sales.

http://johnrsweet.com/Personal/Wind/PDF/Schleede-BigMoney-20050414.pdf

 

An owner of a wind and/or a solar project, looking to shelter taxable income from other businesses, is allowed to depreciate in 6 years almost the entire cost of a wind and solar project under the IRS scheme called Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System, MARCS; the normal period for other forms of utility depreciation is about 20 years

 

Then, with help of Wall Street financial wizardry from financial tax shelter advisers, such as BNEF*, JPMorgan, etc., the owner sells the project to a new owner who is allowed to depreciate almost his entire cost all over again.

Loss of Federal and State Tax Revenues: The IRS estimated the loss of tax revenues to the federal government for the 5y period of 2017 - 2021. See “Energy” heading in URL

The next report would be for the 2018 - 2022 period

https://www.jct.gov/publications.html?func=select&id=5

 

The indirect largesse, mostly for wind and solar plants^ that produce expensive, variable/intermittent electricity, does not show up in electric rates. It likely is offset by taxes and added to the federal debt.

 

* BNEF is Bloomberg New Energy Finance, owned by the pro-RE former Mayor Bloomberg of New York, which provides financial services to the wealthy of the world, including providing them with tax avoidance schemes.

 

https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy17osti/68227.pdf

https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/tax-equity-investors-b...

 

Warren Buffett Quote: "I will do anything that is basically covered by the law to reduce Berkshire's tax rate," Buffet told an audience in Omaha, Nebraska recently. "For example, on wind energy, we get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms. That's the only reason to build them. They don't make sense without the tax credit." 

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/nancy-pfotenhauer/2014/05/12/e...

 

 

 

 

 

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Comment by John F. Hussey on April 9, 2019 at 5:07pm

Smart people build the batteries and FOOLS are stupid enough to buy them thinking they're GREEN!

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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