Battery records tumble again as second stage of country’s biggest battery bursts into action

Western Australia, the biggest isolated grid in the country, and arguably the world, did not have a big battery operating on its main grid before the start of last year, but it is catching up very quickly.

Last Friday, the state posted a new record output for battery storage of 487 megawatts (MW), according to the record tracker on OpenNEM, its second day of records in a row as the second stage of the country’s biggest battery burst into action.

The Collie battery being built by Neoen in the state’s coal centre will be sized at 560 MW and 2,240 MWh when the Tesla Megapack batteries are fully commissioned.

That may not be far away given that its first stage is already in operation and its 341 MW, 1,363 MWh second stage entered the grid late last week with bursts of more than 200 MW of charging and discharging.

That sudden ramp up of activity contrasts to the slow process on Australia’s main grid, where new facilities are carefully shepherded through various “hold points”, starting off at very low levels before the relevant authorities – the market operator and network owners – are happy with progress.

The Neoen Collie battery will overtake the Waratah Super Battery in NSW as the biggest in the country, at least in storage terms, although – at 850 MW (and 1680 MWh) – Waratah will retain its mantle as the most “powerful”.

Collie has become the heart of W.A.’s battery industry, with state-owned Synergy building it onwards 500 MW, 2,000 MWh battery facility just up the road from the Neoen complex. A third battery project for Collie has also been unveiled, as Sophie Vorrath reports here.

The first battery on the state’s main grid was commissioned early last year, delivering 100 MW and 200 MWh at the site of the Kwinana gas facilities. It has since been joined by a bigger second stage (225 MW and 900 MWh), and the smaller Cunderdin solar hybrid which is pushing co-located solar power into the evening peaks.

Other batteries under construction and commissioning – or have at least one government tenders – at Wagerup, Merredin, Muchea, Waroona and Kemerton.

Battery storage already accounts for up to 19 per cent of supply at times in the evening peak (in blue in above graph), with the likes of the two Collie batteries and others delivering short term contracts to shift the output of rooftop solar from the middle of the day to when grid demand is strongest in the evening.

That share of generation will likely soar past 30 per cent – to levels being experienced in the California and Texas grid in the US – as the battery projects under construction are commissioned over the next 12 to 18 months.

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