Newest big battery in Sunshine state now charging up to full capacity

The latest big battery to begin operating in Queensland has ramped up to near full capacity as it works its way towards full commissioning.

The 100MW/200MWh Chinchilla battery, the first to be built by state-owned generator CS Energy, and located next to the Kogan Creek coal fired generator, the biggest single unit in the country, joined the grid last November and has since been working its way through various “hold points” to test it compatibility.

Earlier this week, it reached peak discharge of 93 MW, just short of its rated 100 MW capacity, and last Saturday charged at its peak rate – 100 MW – for nearly an hour, soaking up excess solar before injecting it back into the grid in the early evening peak.

The Chinchilla battery is the third and biggest to begin operating in the Queensland grid, following the delivery of the 75 MW, 150 MWh Wandoan and the 50 MW, 100 MWh Bouldercombe batteries.

But it will soon be overtaken by Neoen’s Western Downs battery, which has just entered the grid management system and will work through commissioning to its full 270 MW and 540 MWh capabilities.

More big batteries are on the way, with construction at the Tarong, Swanbank and Stanwell sites, as well as Brendale and Linda Park, and a number of others poised to begin construction, and dozens more in the pipeline.

The Chinchilla features 80 Tesla Megapack modules and it is the first project to be added to the Kogan Creek precinct as part of plans to create a new clean energy hub that will also include green hydrogen production.

CS Energy, in a recent LinkedIn post, noted that some of the employees operating and maintaining the battery have transferred from roles with the company’s coal fired power stations.

This included Jeffrey Watts, previously electrical outage specialist at the Callide coal fired power station, who is now electrical maintainer operator, and Arryn Bills, who was previously mechanical trade maintainer at Kogan Creek and is now mechanical maintainer operator at the Chinchilla battery.

See also Renew Economy’s Big Battery Storage Map of Australia.