Concrete pours and modules arrive for South Australia’s biggest battery storage project

The Blyth battery, which will be the biggest battery project in South Australia when completed this year – at least for a time – is rapidly taking shape with concrete pours completed and the first of the CATL battery modules arriving on site.

The Blyth battery is sized at 238.5 MW / 477 MWh – up from an initial 200 MW/400 MWh – and its primary reason for existence is its role in providing a supply of “baseload renewables” to BHP’s giant Olympic Dam mine.

French renewable and storage develop Neoen signed the contract last year, and will primarily feed the dam’s electricity needs from the first stage of the Goyder South wind farm, now under construction, and the Blyth battery.

It is also likely to be a prominent player in the grid services market and the growing demand for energy arbitrage, taking advantage of market volatility and excess wind and solar to store for later use.

South Australia currently has the highest share of wind and solar in its grid in the world, reaching an average of 71 per cent over the last year, and 82 per cent in the December quarter, which underlines the technical feasibility of the federal government’s 82 per cent target for the country by 2030.

Neoen revealed last week that the first of the CATL battery packs had arrived at the Blyth site, which is located near the town of the same name in the mid-north region of the state. The project is being built by Elecnor and NHOA.

The Blyth battery will be bigger than both Neoen’s Hornsdale Power Reserve and the newly completed 250 MW, one hour (250 MWh) Torrens Island battery near Adelaide. But it could be pipped by other big battery projects in the state currently in the development pipeline.

Meanwhile, Neoen is advancing works on its first four-hour battery, the 219 MW / 877 MWh of the Collie battery in Western Australia, the first stage of what could be a 1GW, 4 GWh battery project, as well as working on the 270MW, 540 MWh Western Downs battery in Queensland.

Neoen already owns and operates the 300 MW, 450 MWh Victoria Big Battery in Victoria, the 150 MW, 193.5 MWh Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia, the first big battery in Australia, as well as the Bulgana battery located next to the wind farm of the same name in Victoria.

See also RenewEconomy’s Big Battery Map of Australia.