Hybrid solar-wind-battery complex in Australia facing more delays

The Kennedy Energy Park (KEP) in North Queensland, which combines wind, solar and energy storage technologies, is unlikely to reach full commercial operations in the next four to five months even though it has been fully installed and energised.

This is according to a forecast by the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor, a joint venture between Vestas Wind Systems A/S (CPH:VWS) and Quanta Services Inc (NYSE:PWR).

Windlab Ltd (ASX:WND), one of the two companies behind the Kennedy Energy Park project, said in an update on Tuesday that the EPC contractor has failed to deliver in time a fully functioning, compliant generator performance standard (GPS) model and electrical plant meeting the network standards. This has so far prevented the registration of the project as a generator, which is key for launching full commercial operation.

The Kennedy complex combines 43.2 MW of wind, 15 MW of solar and 2 MW/4 MWh of Tesla battery storage capacity. It started generating limited volumes of power in August 2019.

The project developers, Australian Windlab and Japanese firm Eurus Energy Holdings Corp, earlier this year sought liquidated damages from the contractor, which disputed these and in turn requested certain milestone payments. The dispute has now escalated to a security of payment adjudication. The Kennedy developers have until November 26 to respond to the EPC contractor’s submission to the adjudicator.

“Windlab believes that Kennedy Energy Park has recourse under the terms of the EPC contract for these ongoing delays and costs if substantive legal proceedings become necessary,” Windlab said.

According to the update, the original construction and commissioning programme for the project is already 13 months behind schedule.

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