The Blyth battery in South Australia, the biggest to be connected to the state’s high renewable grid in terms of storage, has kicked off its commissioning stage as part of a new wave of big batteries to be connected to the grid.
Blyth is owned by Neoen, the French renewable and storage developer that was responsible for the country’s first big battery at Hornsdale, built in 2017 and since expanded to 150 MW, and 193 MWh.
Blyth will have a smaller connection capacity than AGL’s 250 MW, one hour Torrens Island battery, but at 238.5 MW and 477 MWh, it will have storage that any other in the state – even if that mantle will soon be lost to the Limestone Coast battery that was one of four winners in South Australia of the first auction under the Capacity Investment Scheme.
South Australia currently sources more than 70 per cent of its electricity demand needs from wind and solar (12 month rolling average), and aims to lift that to ” net” 100 per cent renewables by 2027 – net meaning that it will still export and import according to daily needs.
The Blyth battery is interesting because it will have a first-of-its-kind contract to help deliver a 70 MW “baseload renewables” contract to mining giant BHP’s Olympic Dam mine further north, supplementing power from the new 412 Goyder South wind farm.
The first stage of the Goyder South wind farm is also well into its commissioning process, producing at up to nearly 100 MW over the weekend, while the second stage appears to be in the early commissioning stage. The output from Goyder South will also contribute to contracts with the ACT government and retailer Flow Power.
The Blyth battery, which completed construction last month ahead of schedule, is one of around 40 big battery projects currently under construction across Australia, including in W.A., the Northern Territory and at some remote, off grid mines.
In South Australia, the winners of the federal government’s first big battery tender are kicking off construction of their projects, including Pacific Green, which is building the 250 MW, 1,000 MWh Limestone Coast battery and Zen Energy, with a 170 MW, 653 MWh Solar River battery.
EnergyAustralia was also successful with another battery project in South Australia, a 50 MW, 200 MWh battery it will build near the Hallett wind farms near Canownie, while Pacific Blue, which used to be known as Pacific Hydro, has already begun building the 60 MW, 143 MWh battery next to its Clements Gap wind farm in the mid-north.
These will take the total number of big battery projects in the state to at least 11, from four now in full operation – Hornsdale, Lake Bonney, Torrens Island, and Dalrymple North.
Elsewhere, Neoen is also commissioning the 100 MW, 200 MWh Capital battery in the ACT, is operating the first stage of the Western Downs battery in Queensland, and building a similarly sized 270 MW, 540 MWh second stage, and has completed the first stage of the 219 MW / 877 MWh Collie battery in Western Australia.
That Collie battery will grow to the be the country’s biggest – at 560 MW, and 2240 MWh – when the second stage is complete in late 2025, although it will soon be overtaken by the newly expanded Eraring battery – 700 MW, 2,800 MWh – when its second stage is complete in 2027.
Other big battery projects working through the commissioning process, or about to, include the Tailem Bend battery in South Australia, and the Rangebank battery in Victoria.
In Western Australia, the Cunderdin solar hybrid project, with 125 MW solar farm and a 55 MW, 220 MWh battery, is also preparing to go through the connection and commissioning process.
See Renew Economy’s Big Battery Storage Map of Australia for more information.
