South Australia only looking for one hour of battery storage

The South Australia battery storage tender is looking for only one hour of battery storage, in a decision that would appear to rule out some battery storage technologies that would potentially offer longer storage options.

In its expressions of interest documents, the government says it is looking for 100MW/100MWh of battery storage, effectively meaning that it want 100MW of capacity with one hour storage – although some configurations may provide less capacity over a longer time frame.

It says this can be supplied through multiple single or multi sites, but the minimum battery storage capacity at each site is 25 MW/25MWh. EOI for battery storage capacity of less than 100MW/100MWh will also be accepted, it says.

The battery storage tender, among the largest in the world, is attracting major interest in Australia and overseas, including the likes of Tesla, Kokam, LG Chem, Zen Energy, Lyon Solar, Carnegie and VSun, and from Adelaide-based silicon storage proponent 1414.

But some technologies – such as the vanadium redox batteries proposed by Carnegie, VSun and others, may not be suited for the specifications of the South Australia offer. Victoria, for instance, is seeking 20MW/80MWh – effectively four hours of storage – in the first part of its 100MW tender.

The tender is looking for indicative project costs and locations, and how the proposed installation could help reduce wholesale market and FCAS prices and volatility, and add to network security and reliability.

Final proposals are due March 31, with the state moving to a formal tender after that and planning to have the facilities installed by summer.