Proposal for big battery at wind farm

AGL Energy has submitted a proposal to the Federal Government to build a massive 100MW/150MWh battery next to its 500MW Coopers Gap Wind Farm 65km north of Dalby.

The proposal was made under the government’s Underwriting New Generation Investments program, according to a report from energy news and analysis website RenewEconomy.com.au.

AGL chief executive Brett Redman told RenewEconomy’s Energy Insiders podcast the AGL team had studied the criteria of the UNWGI program tender process.

“We think this (battery proposal) meets the criteria. We put in a submission and we’ll see what happens,” he said.

The battery, if built, would be the biggest in the country, and have a greater storage capacity than the Tesla big battery in South Australia that Tesla CEO Elon Musk famously promised to build within 100 days or it would be free.

With up to 123 turbines, Coopers Gap Wind Farm will be one of Australia’s largest wind farms once it is finished this year.