battery energy storage system

With construction having commenced on the 39 MWdc second stage of the Mannum Solar Farm in South Australia, Epic Energy has revealed it is teaming with development partner Canadian Solar to investigate further expansion opportunities at the site, including the possible installation of a battery energy storage system.

Researchers from the University of Sydney have created a new sodium-sulphur battery which they say provides four times the energy capacity of lithium-ion batteries and is far cheaper to produce, providing the potential to dramatically reduce energy storage costs.

French renewable energy giant Neoen has secured development approval to build a 1 GW /4 GWh big battery in Western Australia as the state government seeks to ramp up energy storage capacity to support its planned transition from coal-fired power to renewables.

Energy giant AGL has disclosed it will shutter its gas-fired Torrens Island B power station in South Australia within four years, citing the impending completion of a new electricity interconnector that will link power grids across three Australian states, unlocking gigawatts of new wind, solar PV and storage projects.

Australian renewables developer North Harbour Clean Energy will team with European battery energy storage systems supplier CellCube to establish a vanadium redox flow battery manufacturing and assembly facility in Australia with a projected capacity of up to 1 GW/8 GWh per annum.

Singapore-headquartered infrastructure developer Equis has announced plans to construct a 1,200 MW/2.4 GWh battery in Victoria that it claims will be the largest battery energy storage system yet developed in Australia and Asia.

The New South Wales government has received bids for more than 5.5 GW of wind and solar projects, along with more than 2.5 GW of long-duration storage projects, in response to its first tender to secure renewable projects to transform its coal-reliant energy system.

New Zealand’s solarZero says it aims to provide fast, sustained reserves with its virtual power plant of 10,000 household battery systems. Meridian Energy, meanwhile, has secured approval for a 100 MW battery energy storage system – the country’s largest such system to date.

Distributed energy specialist CleanPeak Energy will install a combined 5.4 MW of PV systems atop biscuit manufacturer Arnott’s Group’s two biggest Australian production facilities. The deal will also deliver an energy service agreement for the front-of-meter power at the company’s Huntingwood site in western Sydney as it looks to transition to 100% renewable electricity across its operations.

It has been an interesting year for Australian energy markets, facing unprecedented high energy prices, coal outages, and market suspension. In this Chart of the Week, we investigate the impact a battery energy storage system would have made during FY 2022.