Hillston Solar Farm Hits 100% Generation Ahead Of Schedule

Amp Power Australia’s 120MW Hillston Solar Farm in south- west New South Wales is now cranking at full capacity.

The local operating company of Toronto-headquartered Amp Energy said it had reached full generation in under three months from initial energisation.

“Reaching full output ahead of schedule is a testament to the cooperation of all stakeholders, in particular the Distribution Network Service Provider Essential Energy, and the proactive management from our local team”, stated Dean Cooper, Executive Vice President and Head of Amp Power Australia.

Located around 3.5 km south of the township of Hillston and adjacent to Essential Energy’s 132/33 kV Hillston sub-station, it’s expected Hillston Solar Farm will generate approximately 235,000 gigawatt-hours of clean electricity annually while avoiding more than 160,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

Planning consent for the facility was awarded by the NSW State Government in late 2017 and Amp Energy closed financing for the project in September last year.

Hillston To Help Power Dozens Of NSW Councils

Some of the output from Hillston has been earmarked for a Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (SSROC) brokered deal involving 25 NSW local governments. Overall, more than 83% of participating councils’ total electricity supply will be covered by electricity generated by Hillston, Moree and Nevertire Solar Farms; all of which are located in the state. The 4.5 year agreement has an option to extend for up to 4 more years by participating councils.

Collectively, more than 214 gigawatt hours of electricity will be delivered under the arrangement annually.

Amp Australia has 8 projects in its portfolio totalling more than 1.5GW of solar power generation and 550MW/1100MWh of battery energy storage system (BESS) assets. Among the company’s other local projects:

• Molong – New South Wales: 39MW solar PV
• Robertstown – South Australia: 636MW solar and 250MW battery system
• Bungama – South Australia: 336MW solar and 150MW battery system

Amp entered the Australian market in 2017 and part of its ongoing expansion here will include the integration of Amp X. The platform boasts an Artificial Intelligence powered Virtual Power Plant (VPP) capability enabling real-time autonomous control and optimised dispatch of battery energy storage and other flexible energy assets across the grid.

Amp Energy also has projects in North America, Japan, Spain, the UK, and India. Among recently announced projects beyond our shores are two new 400 MW battery facilities in Scotland, each providing 800 MWh of energy storage capacity. These facilities will store and manage the dispatch of renewable energy generated from Scottish wind farms.

Due to be operational in April 2024, the firm says these will be the two largest grid-connected battery storage facilities in Europe. But given how fast the grid-scale battery storage scene is evolving, this may not turn out to be the case; or Amp Energy may not wear that crown for too long.

Founded in 2009, Amp Energy says it has constructed or has under contract 7GW of solar, wind and battery storage infrastructure.