Ormazabal is present in one of the southern hemisphere’s largest hybrid renewable power stations

Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park (PAREP) is Iberdrola’s first renewable energy park in Australia, a pioneering project, which when complete will be one of the southern hemisphere’s largest hybrid renewable power stations.

It comprises of 50 wind turbines and 250,000 solar modules together with associated infrastructure, to produce a total installed capacity of almost 320 MW of clean renewable energy. It generates enough clean energy to meet the annual needs of 180,000 Australian homes, contributing to reduce electricity prices for consumers and to decarbonising the economy with an emissions saving of approximately 400,000 metric tons of CO2 annually.

Large-scale hybrid projects such as PAREP, encompassing wind and solar generation, require meticulous planning and execution to ensure a successful, on time, on budget project outcome. This necessitated close collaboration and open communication between stakeholders – Elecnor as the EPC of the project, switchroom manufacturer PSD Energy and Ormazabal. Moreover, connection to the electricity grid in Australia has become especially fraught since the South Australian blackout in September 2016, which resulted in significant changes to the National Electricity Rules (NER), which dictate the conditions surrounding connection to the National Electricity Market (NEM).

From Ormazabal we have supplied switchgear for this project, comprising 31 units of our cpg.0 primary panels for the grid connection station, divided into 3 separate switchboards, all interconnected, in a combined 25 meters long switch room. In addition, our scope also included joining forces with switchroom manufacturer PSD Energy with the joint objective of delivering a complete and tested substation package at the manufacturing facility prior to shipment to the remote Port Augusta site some 300 kms away. The project also benefited from utilizing local based staff to undertake the switchgear installation under the direct supervision of Ormazabal. The installation of the 31 primary panels inclusive of FAT was completed within 4 weeks.

“The primary challenge for the project was a flexibility needed in a rapidly changing environment. Ormazabal assisted greatly with their ability to provide timely responses to customer queries in a collaborative and proactive manner”, said Carlos Felipe del Valle Sierra, Lead Project Manager of Elecnor. Our extensive experience in delivering connecting points has enabled a flexible and pragmatic approach to delivering a timely project outcome, being flexible throughout the project duration with regard to scope changes in a rapidly evolving environment.