The Gannawarra big battery in Victoria.
Australian solar and battery storage developer Edify Energy says it has selected Tesla Megapack technology for three large scale battery projects in the NSW south west that will total 150MW with two hours of storage.
The projects, to be located in the Murrumbidgee shire, are part of a deal with global oil giant Shell Energy and will be fitted with “advanced inverters”, meaning they will feature “grid forming” capabilities that will provide key system services and help lay the path to a grid operating with 100 per cent renewables
Edify says the Riverina and Darlington Point energy storage systems will feature three independent and co-located projects near the 275MW Darlington Point solar farm and will feed into Transgrid’s substation at Darlington Point.
The projects are the 60MW/120MWh Riverina Energy Storage System 1, which will be contracted to Shell, the 65MW/130MW Riverina Energy Storage System 2, and the 25MW / 50MWh Darlington Point Energy Storage System.
The Shell component will provide “firming” for that company’s newly one contract for the NSW government electricity supply, which services hospitals, schools and buildings.
Contracts for the two other components will be announced in coming weeks. Construction is due to start later this year.
The choice of Tesla should not be a surprise as Tesla was chosen by Edify to build the 25MW/50MWh Gannawarra big battery, located next to the solar farm of the same name in Victoria. Still, others who have built batteries with Tesla, such as Neoen, have chosen other providers in recent transactions.
“One of the key drivers in our business is innovation and the strong belief that most roadblocks to a greener energy system can be overcome with the advancement in technology,” said Edify CEO John Cole.
“The advantages of large-scale batteries in our growing world of renewables are well documented and supported. Energy storage is rapidly becoming a valued capacity solution for the National Electricity Market, given its fast and precise response and technical capability.
“The pace of advancement in this growing technology class is exciting and with it a breaking of the barriers to acceptance from market and network participants.”
Tesla Megapacks are larger battery modules of around 3MWh that superseded the earlier Powerpacks that were used at the original Tesla big battery at Hornsdale, and at later installations at Gannawarra, Lake Bonney and Bulgana.
The Megapacks have also been selected for the Victorian Big Battery, and the Wallgrove and Bouldercomble batteries, and a handful of smaller commercial and industrial projects.
The Edify battery storage projects are located on Wiradjuri country, the largest Aboriginal Nation in NSW.
See also RenewEconomy’s Big Battery Storage Map of Australia
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