RayGen opens solar-and-storage demo plant, gets more ARENA funds

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) on Thursday announced AUD 10 million (USD 6.5m/EUR 5.9m) in funding to further support the commercialisation of RayGen Resources Pty Ltd’s solar and thermal storage technology as the company inaugurated its power plant in Carwarp, Victoria.

The Carwarp demonstration project combines 4 MW of renewable power generation with 2.8 MW/50 MWh of storage. Energy is stored as hot and cold water in two water pits and dispatched via an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) turbine.

The latest ARENA funding will support a AUD-32.7-million project aimed at improving the design of RayGen’s technology, achieving material cost reductions and carrying out a basic and front-end engineering design (FEED) of a utility-scale installation of 200 MW solar and 115 MW/1.2 GWh storage in Australia.

“ARENA has supported RayGen for over a decade from early design validation, through to pilot-scale and now progressing to utility-scale assets,” remarked ARENA chief executive Darren Miller.

According to him, RayGen’s solar-and-storage technology could be a significant contributor in responding to Australia’s growing need for dispatchable renewable electricity and longer-duration energy storage.

(AUD 1 = USD 0.647/EUR 0.595)

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