Bouldercombe big battery. Source: Genex.
The Bouldercombe big battery has resumed its commissioning process after releasing a report last week that identified the cause of the fire in September in one of the project’s Tesla Megapack battery modules.
The fire in the 50 MW/100 MWh battery caused a brief but spectacular blaze and brought the commissioning of the project to a halt while the cause was investigated. The fire has been blamed on a fault in the power interface with the grid, and not within the Megapack battery itself.
Testing for the commissioning process has resumed and Genex expects full commissioning to be completed by the middle of the month, although that will initially occur with only 38 of the 40 Megapack modules as Tesla replaces two units affected by the incident. Those replacements will arrive in early December.
“The failure has been isolated to the power electronics interface with the AC bus bar in the individual Megapack unit itself and not the broader installation of Megapack units,” Genex said in a statement last week.
“In order to mitigate against a further event, Tesla will be undertaking replacement of two identified power electronics units and out of caution, physical inspection of the power electronics within the remainder of units at the Project site.
“Genex will also be implementing upgrades to breaker control setting response times to further mitigate against a potential future event.”
The incident was described as a “low intensity fire” that was allowed to burn out with no water required to be used on the fire itself.
The Bouldercombe battery will be the second big battery to be commissioned on the Queensland grid, which remains the most coal dependent in the country, although with plans to reach 85 per cent renewables by 2035.
The first battery was opened at Wandoan South, while the biggest in the state is under construction at Neoen’s Western Downs energy hub, and was recently expanded to a capacity of 270 MW and 540 MWh. That battery will also be using Tesla Megapack technology.
Other big batteries are being planned at or near the state’s main coal generators, including at Kogan Creek (the Chinchilla and Ulinda batteries), at Stanwell, Callide and Tarong.
Genex is also building the first pumped hydro project in Australia in nearly 40 years, the 250 MW, eight hour Kidston project in north Queensland that is located in a former open pit gold mine. Main tunnelling was completed last week.
Genex owns two 50 MW operating solar farms – at Kidston and Jemalong in NSW, and is looking at a 258 MW wind addition to the Kidston hub, as well as what could be a 775 MW solar farm at the Bulli Creek solar and battery hub after landing an off take deal with Andrew Forrest’s green hydrogen project at Gibson Island.
Kidston is also eyeing battery storage as the next stage of the Bulli Creek project, with a potential capacity of 400 MW and at least two hours of storage.
“As coal exits the system we expect further strain on existing plant and the network – further increasing volatility and driving returns for our storage portfolio,” the company said in a presentation to investors last week.
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