Scaling up solar and storage technologies in Victoria

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced $10 million in funding to RayGen Resources Pty Ltd (RayGen) to progress its solar and thermal storage technology along the commercialisation pathway towards a full utility-scale deployment.

The funding will help RayGen improve the design of its technology, achieve material cost reductions and conduct a basic and front-end engineering design (FEED) of a planned utility-scale 200 MW solar and 115 MW/1.2 GWh storage deployment of its technology in Australia.

The funding comes as RayGen officially opened its power plant in Carwarp in north-western Victoria recently. The commercial project demonstrates RayGen’s technologies across solar and thermal storage. Together these technologies will generate 4 MW of renewable power backed with 2.8 MW/50 MWh of storage for around 17 hours’ duration. Successful commissioning of the Carwarp site is a significant milestone in the commercialisation of RayGen’s technology.

ARENA said that RayGen’s upcoming $32.7 million project with ARENA will help to reduce the cost of dispatchable renewable energy and unlock a pipeline of opportunities in Australia and internationally.

“ARENA has supported RayGen for over a decade from early design validation through to pilot-scale and now progressing to utility-scale assets,” said ARENA CEO Darren Miller. “ARENA plays a critical role by supporting home-grown innovation by helping to validate the technical performance and commercial viability of the technology, which then gives confidence to off-takers, developers and investors.

“Given RayGen’s operating characteristics and cost reduction potential at scale, its solar-and-storage technology could make a significant contribution to addressing Australia’s growing need for dispatchable renewable electricity and longer duration energy storage.”

“ARENA plays an essential role in supporting the technologies that drive Australia’s renewable energy transition and positioning Australian manufacturing for new global export opportunities, said RayGen CEO Richard Payne. “RayGen would not be in the position to deliver Australian jobs and put downward pressure on energy prices without ARENA’s ongoing support. We look forward to continuing our relationship with ARENA as we develop upcoming projects throughout Australia.”

ARENA has supported RayGen since 2012, providing a total of $38.4 million across five previous projects as well as this newly announced project. Prior funding has included support for a pre-commercial-scale pilot of their early-stage technology, development and deployment of their hi-tech solar and thermal technologies, through to the feasibility and development stage of the RayGen Carwarp project.