Atmos plans four-hour big battery in W.A. wheatbelt in further boost to storage

Atmos Renewables and its new partner Nomad Energy have unveiled plans for a 100 MW, four hour (400 MWh) battery that will be sited near Merredin in the wheat-belt area of Western Australia.

The Merredin battery energy storage system will be located next to the local sub-station, around 7.5 kms south west of the town of the same name, and Atmos hopes to reach a financial investment decision on the $220 million project later this year after lodging a development application, starting grid studies and opening talks on contracting.

Atmos and Nomad recently unveiled plans to jointly develop, construct and operate more than one gigawatt of wind, solar and storage in the South West Interconnected System, the biggest grid in W.A. that stretches from Perth to Kalgoorlie.

Atmos – owned by Sydney-based Igneo Infrastructure Partners – claims to be the fifth biggest owner of operating renewable generation assets in Australia (with some 1.1 GW of capacity) and is looking at opportunities in the west to maintain that position.

The Merredin battery is just the latest in a number of big battery projects as the state prepares to close the last of its coal generators and make a massive switch towards large scale wind and solar, and soak up some of the excess rooftop solar installed by households and businesses.

The first big battery at Kwinana (100 MW and 200 MWh, pictured above) has already been switched on, and a second stage of 200 MW and 800 MWh is under construction, along with a 100 MW, two battery at Wagerup being built by Alinta, and a 219 MW, four hour battery being built by Neoen at Collie.

Synergy, which owns the two Kwinana batteries, is also building a 500 MW, four hour battery in Collie, with plans for another battery of similar size in the south-west, while Kalgoorlie is also looking to renewables and storage after the failure of its ageing back up fossil fuel generators following the recent storms that tore down transmission lines.