For the purposes of accreditation, a 'power station' is the components (or parts) of an electricity generation system that generates electricity from an eligible renewable energy source.
The components of the electricity generation system that you consider to be your power station must be clearly identified in your application for accreditation. Applications should include a list of components and accompanying electrical single line diagram (ESLD), which clearly show those components.
To assist the Clean Energy Regulator to efficiently process your application for accreditation you should provide complete information in your application for accreditation. The guidance given below sets out the components information required to be included in your application and how this information should be presented.
This guidance will assist you to complete the following questions in the 'Eligible renewable energy source details' section of the application for accreditation form in the REC Registry.
- What is the MW capacity of the power station?
- Specify the components of the electricity generation system that you consider to be a single power station.
Identifying components
All the interconnected or interrelated components of the electricity generation system integral to the operation of the system and generation of electricity are taken to constitute the power station. All components meeting these criteria must be identified in the application for accreditation, whether or not the applicant owns or operates all of the components themselves.
If your power station is located at a facility or site that carries out processes other than electricity generation, such as production processes, equipment and parts of the facility involved in those processes (for example, production of food or paper) are not considered part of the power station. This equipment should not be identified in the list of the power station's components, but may appear on ESLDs.
Applicants should refer to the guidelines in Schedule 1 of the
Renewable Energy (Electricity) Regulations 2001 for guidance on identifying power station components.
Application requirements
In the application for accreditation, applicants are required to provide the following information.
- A list of all the components that make up the power station. You need to provide specific and detailed information identifying your power station's 'primary components' in your components list.
- Primary components include components like wind turbines in a wind farm. For these components you are required to provide information as to the type of generating technology, make and model of these components, and generation voltage. You should also provide photos of the components and their serial numbers.
- You are not required to provide detailed information for minor components of the power station such as cabling. These components must be identified in the components, but a simple description of the component is sufficient.
- The name plate capacity of the power station (in MW).
- The power station capacity should be given to four decimal places and correctly reflect the capacity of the generating components.
- For solar power stations, enter the DC capacity of the total solar array (for example, number of solar panels x panels power rating).
- An ESLD that clearly identifies all components and shows:
- the physical address of the power station
- the make, model, quantity and power rating of generating components
- the make, model, serial number and location of all meters used to measure electricity generation, exports, imports and auxiliaries, and
- where National Metering Identifiers (NMI) and grid connection points are as applicable.
Addressing small generation components in your application for accreditation
If you are adding capacity to a pre-existing small generation unit (SGU), which brings the total capacity of the power station over 100 kW, the pre-existing SGU and added large-scale components taken together form a single power station. You need to recognise components from parts of the power station in your application for accreditation. Additionally, the installed capacity of the power station will be the sum of the pre-existing SGU and additional components.
In your components list, please identify:
- which components form the pre-existing SGU and provide the registration code (the PVD code) for the system (if available)
- the capacity of the pre-existing SGU, and
- the pre-existing SGU components on your ESLD.
Example of correctly presented component information
An example of the type of information required to be included in the application for accreditation is provided below. You must still provide information specific to your power station in an application for accreditation. The example given below can be used as guidance on how this information should be presented, and the level of information required, for a power station of 0.693 MW capacity where the eligible energy source is solar only.
Example of list of components: Panels: 2100 x SolarMake-XY 330W modules; Inverters: 13 x PowerX 50.0-400 and 1 x PowerX 20.0; Racking: Solar panel mounting system; isolators; circuit breakers; Cabling: AC and DC cabling.