Spark for green power
TWO of the world’s biggest batteries worth a combined $1bn will be built at the sites of NSW coal plants in a move to ease strain on the power grid and provide back-up for renewable energy generation.
Origin Energy plans to develop a giant 700 megawatt battery at Eraring, Australia’s largest coal-fired power station, while France’s Neoen is preparing a 500MW battery stack dubbed the Great Western Battery Project at Wallerawang, home to the former
EnergyAustralia coal station that has now been decommissioned.
The two batteries would both rank as the largest storage devices across the globe and more than four times larger than Elon Musk’s Tesla battery in South Australia, which is also operated by Neoen.
The rollout of the big batteries shows the willingness of investors to ensure enough supply when coal plants retire over the next two decades, a key plank of the NSW government’s ambitious plan to add 12 gigawatts of renewables backed up by 2GW of storage.
It may also ease tensions between industry and the federal government after Scott Morrison gave companies until April to commit to building 1000MW of new power capacity to ensure there was a like-for-like replacement for the Liddell coal plant, to close in the 2022-23 summer.
Origin’s 700MW battery will be developed in three phases with the initial capacity online by late 2022. An expression of interest for its supply and installation has been issued.
“The deployment of this battery at Eraring will support Origin’s orderly transition away from coal-fired generation by 2032, while complementing the policy objectives of the NSW energy roadmap,” said Greg Jarvis, Origin’s executive general manager for energy supply and operations.
“We recognise we have an important role to play in positioning Origin’s electricity generation portfolio to support Australia’s rapid transition to renewables.
“A large-scale battery at Eraring will help us better support renewable energy and maintain reliable supply for customers, by having longduration storage ready to dispatch into the grid at times when renewable sources are not available.”
Neoen, which has already teamed up with Tesla for a 300MW battery installation near Geelong in Victoria, will spend up to $400m on the facility.
The battery installation will be close to the former Wallerawang plant and connect to a substation that was used for the coal development, documents lodged with the NSW Department of Planning show.
Neoen has committed $3bn to 1600MW of renewable generation in Australia and plans to double spending to $6bn by 2022, representing 3000MW of power supply.