EnergyAustralia takes market control of another two big batteries in NSW

EnergyAustralia has signed up to take market control another two big battery storage projects in New South Wales, adding to its growing portfolio of storage projects under its management.

The utility giant has signed a deal with Edify Energy for a total of 90MW/120MWh of battery storage capacity at Darlington Point in south west NSW.

Edify is building three separate battery storage projects at the one location, next to the substation and the massive 275MW solar plant at Darlington Point, on Wiradjuri Country.

One of the installations – the 60MW/120MWh Riverina Energy Storage System 1 – has already been signed up by Shell, as part of its plans to service its NSW government electricity supply contract.

EnergyAustralia has agreed to take market control of Riverina 2 (65MW/130MWh) and the Darlington Point (25MW/50MWh) battery storage projects for at least 10 years. 

All three batteries are being built with Tesla Megapack technology, with construction to start later this year and completion due in 2023/24.

“The Darlington Point and Riverina batteries will be added to our fleet of new flexible capacity projects, which demonstrate we are doing, not just dreaming, when it comes advancing Australia’s clean energy future,” said Mark Collette, the managing director of EnergyAustralia.

“These technologies will become the backbone of a modern energy system that will step in and keep the lights on when demand for electricity is high, as well as allow solar energy to be used – even when the sun isn’t shining.”

EnergyAustralia already operates Edify’s 25MW/50MWh Gannawarra battery in Victoria, and the 30MW/30MWh Ballarat battery owned by Ausnet. It has also contracted the output of the massive 250MW/2000MWh Kidston pumped hydro project in Queensland being built by Genex.

It is also planning to build its own battery – the 350MW/1400MWh Wooreen facility in the Latrobe Valley – ahead of the advanced closure of the Yallourn brown coal generator in Victoria, which is now due to shut down in 2028.

“Edify Energy are one of the best energy project developers in the country,” Collette said in a statement.

“We are proud of the work we did together on the Gannawarra solar farm and battery in northern Victoria and we look forward to doing it again, this time in the New South Wales Riverina region. 

Edify CEO John Cole says the company plans to bring more energy generation and storage projects to market that will “advance the dispatchability and resilience of a renewable power system.”

All three of Australia’s major “gentailers” – AGL, Origin and EnergyAustralia – are now committed to investing billions in battery storage, with AGL and Origin both planning facilities of 2,000MWh or more at their respective Liddell and Eraring facilities.

Both companies are also planning to build battery storage at their other fossil fuel hubs, with AGL looking at big batteries at Loy Yang A, and at Torrens Island in South Australia, which is already under construction.

In a recent interview with RenewEconomy’s popular Energy Insiders podcast, Collette said EnergyAustralia is looking at a number of other big batteries projects, particularly as it imagines a grid without coal.

“We certainly have a number of other battery projects on the go at the moment. We are planning for our future portfolio. And as you’d imagine, when we think about that, we have to imagine a world where we don’t have coal any longer.”

See RenewEconomy’s Big Battery Storage Map of Australia