Another big battery joins the grid in South Australia as state heads towards 100 pct net renewables

Another big battery has entered the grid management system in South Australia, taking the number of battery projects operating or in commissioning in the state to eight, with another seven under construction.

The latest addition is Zen Energy’s Templers battery, which at 111 MW and 291 MWh will be one of the largest in the state. It joins the grid – and is already dispatching at levels up to 5 MW – just a week after the 100 MW, 200 MWh Mannum battery.

Both Templers and Mannum are expected to be in full operation within a few months after working their way through the staged hold points in the commissioning processes, although that task can be difficult and protracted – as the Tailem Bend battery in South Australia discovered and the Waratah Super Battery in NSW is also finding.

South Australia played host to the first large scale big battery in the world, the Hornsdale battery, and has since added another five – Dalrymple North, Lake Bonney, Torrens Island, Tailem Bend and, most recently, the Blyth battery that completed commissioning in April and which is for the moment, the biggest in the state.

The addition of Mannum and Templers will take the number of operating big battery projects to eight, with another six – Clements Gap, Hallett, Limestone Coast, Bungama, Solar River and Summerfield – are under construction. At least another 20 big battery projects are in the pipeline.

All will be essential as the state moves towards its target of reaching 100 per cent renewables by the end of 2027, helped along by a couple of big new wind projects – including the partially complete Goyder South wind farm – and the new transmission line to NSW.

The Templers battery is located about 60 kms north of Adelaide, on the lands of the Ngadjuri people. The battery has been built by Consolidated Power Projects, inverter and battery giant Sungrow is providing PowerTitan technology, in partnership with Shanxi Electric Power Construction.

Although developed by Zen Energy, the Templers battery is destined to find itself a joint venture platform with Taiwan-based HDRE, along with 650MWh Solar River battery and 230MW solar farm project north east of Adelaide which is the next project into construction, and other storage projects.

See Renew Economy’s Big Battery Storage Map of Australia for more information.

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