Victoria-headquartered Akaysha Energy said the Ulinda Park battery energy storage system is now operational and trading in the National Electricity Market, providing energy shifting and frequency control services to support Queensland’s renewable energy transition.
The 155 MW / 298 MWh battery energy storage system, at Hopeland near Chinchilla in Queensland’s Western Downs region, is connected to the grid via transmission network operator Powerlink’s 275 kV Western Downs terminal station.
Akaysha said the battery leverages the Western Downs transmission hub to firm local solar and wind and reduce curtailment while providing fast frequency response that dampens price spikes during peak periods.
The Ulinda Park project is supported by a 10-year battery revenue swap arrangement with Bermuda-based risk transfer platform Re2 Capital. Akaysha said the agreement provides long-term revenue certainty while preserving operational flexibility across energy and frequency control markets.
Akaysha Chief Executive Officer Nick Carter said the Ulinda Park battery energy storage system will now be upsized following the successful tender win in the federal government’s Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS).
Akaysha was recently awarded a CIS contract for an additional 195 MW / 780 MWh of capacity at the site which will increase total project size to 350 MW / 1,078 MWh on completion.
“With Ulinda Park up and running, and the CIS-backed expansion progressing, we’re turning the Western Downs into a major storage hub,” he said. “That means a steadier grid for Queenslanders and new tools for retailers and big energy users to manage risk and keep energy costs under control.”
Melbourne-based Akaysha, acquired by investment giant Blackrock in 2022, has a portfolio of 11 battery projects in Australia, including the 850 MW / 1,680 MWh Waratah Super Battery being built on the New South Wales (NSW) Central Coast.
Waratah was supposed to be the first completed project for Akaysha but it has been delayed after one of the plant’s three high-voltage transformers suffered a “catastrophic failure” just days from final testing.
Other projects in Akaysha’s development pipeline include the 415 MW / 1,660 MWh Orana BESS, being built near Dubbo in the Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (REZ).
The Orana battery, that has secured a state and federal underwriting agreement and a 12-year virtual offtake arrangement with EnergyAustralia, has recently entered the market operator’s grid management system, signalling its readiness to enter commissioning.
Akaysha is also nearing completion of the 205 MW / 410 MWh Brendale battery energy storage system being developed in southeast Queensland.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.