Utility Scale Storage

Hydrostor has penned a deal with Australian miner Perilya to build a 200 MW/1,600 MWh advanced compressed air energy storage facility in a disused mine cavity near Broken Hill in western New South Wales.

As the energy storage trend unfolds, stories litter the media landscape about lithium-ion batteries catching fire, and even exploding. It’s a valid concern, and the time for consumers to understand a basic truth about lithium-ion batteries is long past due.

A fire that erupted on Tuesday night in one of the Tesla Megapack 2.0 battery units of the Bouldercombe battery facility in Queensland continues to burn under the supervision of emergency services.

Queensland’s CleanCo has opened expressions of interest to renewables projects wanting to participate in the transformation of its former coal-fired Swanbank power precinct to a clean energy hub.

Vanadium explorers Technology Metals Australia and Australian Vanadium Limited will look to accelerate the development of the critical battery mineral in Western Australia after agreeing to a merger of their adjoining projects in the state’s mid-west.

French renewable energy giant Neoen has been given the green light for another grid-scale battery in Australia with Tasmania’s Northern Midlands Council unanimously approving plans for a 280 MW/560 MWh battery energy storage system to be built in the island state’s mid-north.

Australia’s biggest coal miner has inked a major renewable energy deal that will utilise solar, wind and pumped hydro to provide about half the forecasted electricity demand of its central Queensland operations.

One month after formally opening its first operational grid-scale battery at the Torrens Island power station site in South Australia, AGL has confirmed that next month it will begin demolishing the adjacent gas-fired Torrens ‘A’ power plant.

The Western Australian government has awarded contracts for its 500 MW / 2,000 MWh big battery in Collie and the 200 MW / 800 MWh extension to the existing Kwinana battery. China’s CATL is set to deliver the battery units for both projects, while Spain’s Power Electronics will supply inverters.

Lithium-ion batteries are generally safe and unlikely to fail, but they can catch fire if damaged, stored, or operated incorrectly. With calls mounting for development of engineering good practice, US-based Firetrace International suggests three steps that battery manufacturers, developers and operators should take into account.