Another two giga-scale battery storage projects take shape, adding more shock absorbers to the grid

Singapore-backed Ampyr Energy hopes to bring two giga-scale battery projects to the grid in NSW in coming years, after completing a deal that gives it outright ownership of the first of its Australian ventures.

Ampyr is backed by Singapore-based global fund AGP Sustainable Real Assets and headed in Australia by Alex Wonhas, one of the key architects of the Australian Energy Market Operator’s Integrated System Plan, and is staffed by veterans of the industry including from AEMO, Tilt Renewables and Shell Energy.

The company has only just entered the Australian market but has ambitions to deliver at least 3 GW of battery storage capacity – of varying durations – by 2030.

The first of these will be the Wellington battery, sited across the road from the Wellington and North Wellington solar farms in the state’s central west, and which will be sized at around 400 megawatts (MW) and 1,000 megawatt hours (MWh).

Last week, Ampyr bought out the 50 per cent share of the first stage of the project, giving it total ownership of the project as a whole. The first stage – sized at 300 MW and 600 MWh, is expected to begin construction later this year, with energisation in 2026.

Ampyr is also working on an even bigger battery storage project – known as Swallow Tail – which could be sized at around 375 MW and 1,500 MWh, and will be located near the Bannaby substation south-west of Sydney.

This positions it near the feed from the proposed Humelink transmission line into the main Sydney demand centre, raising the potential it could act as a kind of a “shock absorber” for the grid in the same way as the Waratah Super Battery, (pictured above) currently in commissioning, will do north of Sydney.

These battery shock absorbers essentially provide emergency back-up that allows transmission lines to be operated at maximum capacity, rather than being forced to keep some capacity in reserve in the case of a grid event. It would allow more renewables to be sent into the state’s biggest demand centre.

The Victoria Big Battery performs a similar function of the link from NSW to Victoria and other batteries can do the same at various levels. Companies such as Engie, and Ampyr’s Wonhas, have talked of the need for more such batteries to boost what is clearly insufficient grid infrastructure.

Wonhas would not comment on the exact plans for Swallow Tail, which still needs to work through its planning approvals. “I think there are some really interesting things you can do with batteries,” Wonhas told Renew Economy.

You can hear Wonhas’ views on battery storage in this episode of the Energy Insiders podcast.

Wonhas says battery storage projects of any sought will lift the output of renewable energy in the grid, and NSW is currently in the midst of what could be the most dramatic switch from coal fired generation to renewables and storage, although that will depend on the timing of the roll out.

The Wellington battery is still to settle its contract arrangements, and it is not clear if Shell – having sold its stake – will be a customer in the same way it is with the Riverina battery in the south-west of the state. The Wellington and Wellington North solar farms are owned by Lightsource bp.

“Reliable, cost-competitive electricity is a cornerstone of Australia’s economic growth,” Wonhas said in a statement marking the purchase of the Shell state last week. “Ampyr’s mission is to enable Australia’s future industries to benefit from the clean energy transition.”

Joining Wonhas in the Ampyr team are former AEMO Services general manager Brad Hopkins, former Tilt Renewables general manager development anthony Yeates, and former Shell Energy Australia head of customer solutions Jialen Shen.

See also Renew Economy’s Big Battery Storage Map of Australia.