Victoria’s first big battery unveiled in Ballarat

The 30 MW / 30 MWh Ballarat Battery Energy Storage System has been officially commissioned by the Victorian Labor government, as the first of the two grid-scale batteries that will provide support to the Victorian grid by the start of this summer.

October 23, 2018 Marija Maisch

The Ballarat battery is touted as one of the most sophisticated li-ion battery storage systems anywhere in the world.

Image: Twitter, Lily D’Ambrosio MP

The 30 MW / 30 MWh lithium-ion battery in Ballarat is currently in the final testing phase before being connected to the grid in time for the approaching summer.

The Ballarat Battery Energy Storage System located at the Ballarat Terminal Station in Warrenheip has been fully designed, constructed and operated by a consortium led by Downer Spotless.

The battery was supplied by technology provider Fluence. It is owned by AusNet Services and operated by EnergyAustralia.

The Ballarat battery is able to power more than 20,000 homes for an hour of critical peak demand before being recharged. The system will respond to changing grid needs within milliseconds and will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week to support critical peak demand.

“This battery will help to ease constraints on transmission lines in Western Victoria that currently curtail the output of wind and solar, while also helping to bring in more renewables to the grid,” ARENA CEO Darren Miller said.

The Ballarat battery is the first of two announced large scale batteries that will support Victoria’s energy grid by summer 2018.

The second large-scale battery is a 25 MW / 50 MWh battery collocated with the 60 MW Gannawarra Solar Farm, south-west of Kerang.

The Gannawarra battery, constructed and owned by Edify and Wirsol and supplied by Tesla, is also operated by EnergyAustralia under a long-term off-take agreement.

In March, on behalf of the Australian Government, ARENA committed $25 million to two grid-connected, utility-scale batteries, matching the $25 million committed by the Victorian Government as part of its $50 million energy storage initiative.

“We said we would deliver these large-scale batteries for Victoria, and that’s exactly what we’ve done. This is part of our plan to transition to a more affordable, reliable and clean energy system,” said Victoria Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio.

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