Three big battery storage projects totalling 900MWh have been proposed for the New England region in NSW and the state’s north, targeting one of the NSW government’s key zones for the large scale wind and solar projects that will be needed to replace its ageing coal fleet.
The Australian-owned renewables and battery storage developer Maoneng has filed planning applications for a 200MW/400MWh big battery near Tamworth, and a 150MW/300MWh battery near Armidale, and has also flagged a 100MW/200MWh big battery near Lismore in the state’s north.
The Tamworth and Armidale batteries are located next to key transmission infrastructure such as sub-stations, and are two of a number of battery and pumped hydro projects that are starting to take shape as the NSW state government prepares for a series of public tenders starting early next year.
Maoneng is one of the most active battery storage developers in the market. Just in the last month it has announced plans for a 240MW/480MWh big battery on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, and has also filed plans for 225/450MWh big battery at Gould Creek in South Australia.
In NSW, Maoneng has a contract to deliver 200MW/400MWh of battery storage to AGL between 2023 and 2028, including from the Sunraysia solar farm, where it is already advancing plans for a 100MW/200MWh battery facility called Sunraysia Emporium near Balranald.
The other component of the AGL contract will be met by the 100MW/200MWh battery planned for farming land on Fig Tree Lane between Lismore and Casino, close to the substation in that area.
The planning submission for the Tamworth Battery Energy Storage System – which will be located on rural land near the Tamworth substation on the city’s outskirts – were only filed late last week.
The planning submission for the Armidale Battery Energy Storage System was also filed late last week, and says it will be located around 5kms east of Armidale next to the local substation.
Both batteries are focused on providing “reliability and security” to the network during peak periods.
“At the moment we’re looking at a public exhibition period in November and December this year, and potential DA approval around April to May next year. Then we’re planning to start construction in early 2023 and have that finished late the same year,” Hawke said.
Meanwhile, Maoneng has announced that it will use lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries at its Mornington battery because of their strong safety performance.
In a statement issued less than a week after fire destroyed two Tesla Megapack battery modules at the Victoria Big Battery in Geelong, Maoneng said its decision follows an extensive technical analysis of various battery types available on the global market.
“LFP batteries have a relatively much higher thermal stability and less dense chemical composition than other varieties prominent in utility scale batteries, such as NMC (lithium, nickel, manganese, cobalt) technology, therefore significantly reducing risks,” it said.
Tesla announced earlier this year that it would switch to LFP chemistry from NMC for its Megapacks, but it is not clear which chemistry was used in the Geelong installation.
That fire erupted on the second day of trials at what will be the biggest battery installation in Australia and the southern hemisphere. It took more than three days for the fire to subside and be declared “in control”, but there is no word yet on its cause.
“Batteries will play an increasingly important and necessary role as Australia transitions from traditional energy sources to renewable energy,” co-founder and CEO Morris Zhou said in a statement.
“LFP technology has a very good safety record, which is why we have chosen it for the Mornington BESS. The batteries will be supported by other systems to enable a high level of confidence in our approach to safety.
Maoneng said the batteries it will choose will include a state-of-the-art fire detection system, plus an advanced fire suppression system that operates 24/7 and deploys a condensed aerosol agent to automatically handle any potential hazard in minutes.
Batteries will play an increasingly important and necessary role as Australia transitions from traditional energy sources to renewable energy,” co-founder and CEO Morris Zhou said in a statement.
“LFP technology has a very good safety record, which is why we have chosen it for the Mornington BESS. The batteries will be supported by other systems to enable a high level of confidence in our approach to safety.
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