juwi to construct wind and solar farm in regional Western Australia

29th May 2020

By: Creamer Media Reporter

     

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The hybrid project consists of a renewable energy hub which will include a 4 megawatt solar farm combined with two 4.5 megawatt wind turbines integrated with a lithium ion battery system and gas generators.

juwi Renewable Energy Pty Ltd, the Brisbane subsidiary of German renewable energy specialist juwi AG, has signed an agreement with Perth-based Contract Power to construct the high penetration solar and wind components of a new hybrid generation solution for the town of Esperance in south eastern Western Australia.

Contract Power will own and operate the Esperance hybrid renewables facility which is expected to meet up to half of the town’s annual electricity demand. The project is scheduled to be operational in early 2022.

Dave Manning, Global Head of Hybrid at juwi said that hybrid power solutions offer the potential to significantly reduce fossil fuel generation in pristine environments whilst maintaining reliability at competitive costs. “The generated electricity will be distributed by Horizon Power, which is owned by the West Australian Government and supplies electricity to communities across regional Western Australia,” said Manning. “We are looking forward to working with Contract Power to deliver this landmark project in Esperance.”

The construction and development of hybrid power plants for off-grid customers such as mines is an important pillar of juwi’s Australian business strategy. These projects intelligently integrate solar, wind and battery power with existing electricity grids using a juwi-developed microgrid control system called juwi Hybrid IQ.

Stephen Hansen, juwi Board member responsible for international business, said juwi has already proved what renewable energy solutions can achieve through its world-renowned DeGrussa project and continues to build on this accomplishment. “Our customers benefit from our comprehensive service portfolio that supports our clients at every stage, from project development and commissioning to the operation and maintenance of their systems,” said Mr. Hansen.

juwi has already achieved remarkable success in selected markets. The construction of a solar farm in Kozani, Greece is currently under development. With an expected capacity of 204 megawatts, it will become the largest solar farm in south-east Europe. In the coming years, juwi will also develop a solar portfolio with a capacity of 500 megawatts in the United States for a regional energy supplier in Colorado. Since the founding of the company in 1996, juwi has planned and developed close to 2,000 solar power plants of various sizes, with an overall capacity of more than 2,700 megawatts in more than 25 countries.

The Esperance project will be the fourth hybrid project by juwi in Australia. The company has constructed hybrid renewable energy solutions for three other Australian customers to date: the Degrussa Gold and Copper Mine, the Agnew mine and a research centre on Heron Island.

When it comes to free-field, utility-scale solar power plants the juwi group belongs to the top project development providers worldwide. According to the results of a recent analysis by the internet platform “Wiki Solar”, the company from Wörrstadt also belongs to the leading providers regarding EPC and O&M services. Wiki Solar has been analysing the solar power market with a performance of over four megawatts (“utility scale”) for a period of several years.

juwi has advanced to become the leading German company on the list of the most successful solar project developers. The top positions are primarily occupied by US, Chinese and Indian companies due to the size of their domestic markets and the locally characterised project development. On a European level, the renewable energy pioneer is running under the top three positions. This is a reason for juwi CEO, Michael Class, to be very pleased. “We are now beginning to reap the rewards of our strategic reorientation from the year 2017”.

About three years ago, juwi not only decided for a re-entry into the German solar business, but also for an expansion in the field of project development with a clear focus on selected, attractive international markets. Currently, the focus countries primarily include Australia, Greece, Italy, Japan, South Africa and the US. The project pipeline is expanding in all these markets. Furthermore, the company is continuously assessing the entry into further growth markets. “The strong point in our strategy is that we can provide a comprehensive service portfolio regarding project development, EPC and O&M services to our customers through our integrated business model.” Emphasises Stephan Hansen, responsible juwi board member for international business.

juwi has already achieved remarkable success in all named markets. Currently, the construction of the solar park Kozani is in the project pipeline. With a capacity of 204 megawatts, it will become the largest solar park in southeast Europe. In the coming years, juwi will construct a solar portfolio amounting to a capacity of 500 megawatts in the US for a regional energy supplier from Colorado. Since the founding of the company in 1996, juwi has, in sum, planned and developed close to 2,000 solar power plants of various sizes with an overall capacity of more than 2,700 megawatts in more than 25 countries.

“juwi is currently working with several key mining, and industrial customers in Africa utilizing the same technology, with plans to roll out similar solutions across the continent,” said Manning.

Despite the focus on project development, juwi still continues to belong to the top players on the Engineering-Procurement-Construction (EPC) market. In particular, three large scale projects in Vietnam as well as numerous EPC projects in Japan have most recently contributed to this success. Likewise, juwi is very successful in the field of operations and maintenance (O&M). juwi is the leading European company in this field. “The current Wiki Solar statistics prove that we are one of the few German companies to have managed to establish a real global player position” highlights juwi board member Hansen.

A further focus of the company is in the construction of hybrid power plants for off-grid industries, for example for mines. In such projects solar power plants are complemented with storage units. These units can then be intelligently integrated into the existing isolated network by using a juwi-developed software called “juwi Hybrid IQ“. “We have proven what renewable energy solutions can achieve though our worldwide renowned project DeGrussa. We continue to build upon this accomplishment”, continues Hansen.

Furthermore, juwi has greatly expanded its project development activities in the German wind energy market. “Our colleagues who are taking on project development abroad are also profiting from our experience and competence, which we have gathered as one of the largest German companies in the industry” Michael Class emphasises. Primarily, this is currently the case in South Africa, where juwi is working on a wind and solar energy pipeline amounting to about 1,000 megawatts.

Looking ahead into the future, Class feels positive – despite the current challenges due to COVID-19. “Naturally and with reason, the current focus in all countries lies with fighting the corona pandemic. This is occasionally leading to some delays in the development of projects. However, we are also taking note of increasing demand from the economy and politics for a realignment of the global economy according to sustainable factors. Obviously, this also includes the question of how we are going to produce our energy. And in answering this question, there is no way around the cost-effective and clean source of wind and solar energy” underlines Michael Class in conclusion.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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