The Bungala Solar Power Farm is a solar power farm in Emeroo and Wami Kata near

Port Augusta Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. The first stage was connected to the grid in May 2018, and the second stage was connected to the grid in November 2018. The project gradually reached full power in 2020.

History

It was expected to be completed and the two stages together able to deliver 220MW of electric power to the national grid from November 2018. It is being developed on of land which was previously used as an ostrich farm, sheep and cattle station and is owned by the Bungala Aboriginal Corporation, a community employment and social services organisation. The completed project could contribute 220MW to the electricity grid from 275MWdc generation and expects to produce 570 GWh per year. A professional training project is being set up to provide new skills and experience to 70 Aboriginal job seekers as part of the project. It will train them in operations and maintenance for stage 1 and construction of phase 2 of the project.

Construction

The project is being built in stages. Stages 1 and 2 will produce a combined 220MW of electricity. They were developed by

Reach Energy Reach or REACH may refer to: Companies and organizations * Reach plc, formerly Trinity Mirror, large British newspaper, magazine, and digital publisher * Reach Canada, an NGO in Canada * Reach Limited, an Asia Pacific cable network company ...

and sold to a joint venture of

Enel Green Power Enel Green Power S.p.A. is an Italian multinational renewable energy corporation, headquartered in Rome. The company was formed as a subsidiary of the power generation firm Enel in December 2008. It is present with assets in operation or under ...

and

Dutch Infrastructure Fund Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

. The builder was Elecnor. Stage 3 is not scheduled to be built at this stage, but would include another 80MW of generation, and battery storage. Stage 3 was to be built if the company won a contract to supply electricity to the state government, however this contract was won by

Aurora Solar Thermal Power Project Aurora Solar Thermal Power Project was a planned solar power tower solar thermal power plant to be located north of Port Augusta in South Australia. It was planned to generate 150 MW of electricity after it was completed in 2020. Storage ca ...

. The entire output of stages 1 and 2 will be bought by

Origin Energy Origin Energy an ASX listed public company with headquarters in Sydney. It is a major integrated electricity generator, and electricity and natural gas retailer. It operates Australia’s largest coal-fired power station at Lake Macquarie, New ...

. The development is on a 19th-century ostrich farm, later used for grazing sheep and cattle, and spans the boundary between the localities of Emeroo and Wami Kata. Civil engineering and construction on site was managed by

Catcon Catcon is an Australian construction and civil engineering company based in Adelaide, South Australia. It was rated at #50 in South Australia's "Top 100 companies" in 2015. Catcon is the company responsible for the Bolivar interchange and Little ...

. The

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU, though most commonly still referred to as CFMEU) is Australia's main trade union in construction, forestry, maritime, mining, energy, textile, clothing and footwear producti ...

accused the construction company of unsafe work practices when a construction worker was crushed by equipment on site in February 2018. As the site is from the state capital of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

where planning approval is granted, there had been some local issues that were not well understood in Adelaide. These related to dust during construction and ongoing contributions into the local economy once construction is complete. The state Planning Commission visited the site in July 2018. The first supply of electricity from one section of 45MW was connected to the

National Electricity Market The National Electricity Market (NEM) is an arrangement in Australia's electricity sector for the connection of the electricity transmission grids of the eastern and southern Australia states and territories to create a cross-state wholesale elec ...

in May 2018. The entire first phase of the project was commissioned in September and the second phase of the Bungala Solar Project started feeding electricity into the grid in October 2018. Technical issues delayed the project finish until 2020.

Size

The Bungala Solar Power Farm is one of the largest solar farms in Australia. It covers 2000 acres.

References

Energy infrastructure completed in 2018 Solar power stations in South Australia 2018 establishments in Australia {{Australia-powerstation-stub