Construction underway on first 300MWh battery in massive solar and storage hub

Construction is underway on a 150 megawatt, two-hour big battery near Port Pirie in South Australia, in the first stage of a proposed $2 billion series of solar and storage projects being built in the region by Canadian renewables developer Amp Energy.

The company, which is backed by the deep-pocketed Carlyle Group of investment funds, is developing the Bungama Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) as part of the Renewable Energy Hub of South Australia, which will include a total of 640MW of battery storage and 1.4GW of solar farms across Bungama, Roberstown and Whyalla.

Amp said late last week that it has selected Finish group Wärtsilä to supply the Bungama BESS and provide a long-term service agreement for the 150MW/300MWh big battery, marking an “important milestone” for its plans. Enerven has been appointed as balance of plant contractor for the project.

“Across our multi-gigawatt portfolio in Australia, Bungama BESS stage 1 is the first of our energy storage projects to reach this important milestone,” said Amp’s president of Australia, Daniel Kim.

“We are committed to supporting South Australia achieve its ambitious net 100 per cent renewable energy target by 2027.”


The projects are expected to help propel South Australia beyond its target of net 100 per cent renewables, but are also likely to feed into Amp’s green hydrogen plans, as the chosen developer of 5GW of hydrogen electrolyser capacity in the Cape Hardy Port Precinct.

Amp was last year tapped to lead development of the huge green hydrogen and ammonia production project proposed for the Cape Hardy Port Precinct by SA-based miner, Iron Road.

Amp’s winning concept design, selected by Iron Road following a three-month competitive process, proposes an electrolyser and associated green hydrogen facility that will deliver over 5 million tonnes a year of green ammonia.

For Wärtsilä, the contract to build the Bungama BESS marks its second big battery project in South Australia, after AGL Energy’s Torrens Island battery, which was completed last year.

“This collaboration further demonstrates our commitment to advancing the region’s transition to a cleaner, more resilient energy grid, and supporting South Australia’s vision to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2027,” said Wärtsilä vice president of energy storage and optimisation, Andrew Tang.

For the Bungama BESS, Wärtsilä says it will be built using its Quantum High Energy storage technology, and will use the company’s GEMS Digital Energy Platform to support essential grid services, including frequency control ancillary services, fast frequency response, and energy arbitrage.

South Australia energy minister Tom Koutsantonis says projects like Bungama BESS create highly skilled jobs in the state, while also demonstrating its global standing as a leader in the green energy sector.

“South Australia’s world-leading renewable energy reputation continues to attract significant investment into the state, especially in our regions,” the minister said.

“Amp Energy joins a growing list of developers committed to South Australia’s multi-billion dollar pipeline of projects.”

The Bungama battery project is one of five currently under construction in South Australia, which leads the country and the world in terms of wind and solar penetration, with an average 72 per cent share over the last 12 months and a target of 100 per cent net renewables by 2027.

Those battery projects under construction also include the Blyth, Clements Gap, Hallett and Templers.

They will join operating big batteries at Hornsdale, Torrens Island, Lake Bonney, Dalrymple North and the newly connected Tailem Bend battery.

You can find out more by clicking on Renew Economy’s Big Battery Storage Map of Australia.