Stanwell to host its first eight-hour battery to kickstart Quinbrook’s plans for major Gladstone energy hub

Queensland state owned generator Stanwell is to host its first eight-hour big battery, part of a deal with Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners that will lead to a massive gas and battery hub on the outskirts of Gladstone and other major solar battery hybrids.

The new battery was announced on Tuesday and will be built in a special testing zone at the site of the Stanwell coal generator, near Rockhampton, where the company is half way through construction of a 300 MW, 1,200 MWh battery using Tesla Megapack technology.

The new eight-hour battery will use technology developed by Chinese battery giant CATL, and will form the first leg of Quinbrook’s plan to build up to 3 GW and 24 GWh of battery storage to power industry around the country.

The Stanwell installation will only be small, comprising one inverter and five battery units.

The two companies say that CATL’s EnerQB battery, which they say is purpose-build for eight hours of energy storage – will undergo a 12-month trial at Stanwell, but will ultimately form part of Quinbrook’s plans for the Gladstone State Development Area (GSDA) Energy Hub project.

This project – unlike the solar and battery hybrids eagerly promoted by Quinbrook in recent months – will combine gas generation with battery storage, with 1,078 MW of gas capacity and 788 MW of battery capacity according to a flyer posted by Quinbrook offshoot Private Energy Partners.

It will presumably help fill the gap created by the planned closure of the ageing Gladstone coal fired power generator in 2029, which has been announced by Rio Tinto as it transitions its electricity supply for its giant smelters and refineries in the town to a mix of wind, solar and battery storage.

Quinbrook CEO Brian Restall says the Stanwell battery will be the “world’s first true 8-hour battery storage solution”.

As Restall explained to Renew Economy last month, Quinbrook intends to use the technology for a proposed 2,000 MWh expansion of its Supernode battery, already the biggest in the country with storage of more than 3,000 MWh when complete.

“It’s very slow to charge and discharge. It takes twice as long as four-hour battery, but that four-hour battery needs cooling systems and the eight hour battery, because you charge and discharge slowly, you’re not actually heating the cell chemistry up as much,” he said in October.

In his latest statement on Tuesday, Restall said: “We believe that Quinbrook’s unique combination of long duration, 8-hour batteries combined with the ultra-long backup of open cycle gas turbines marks a game changing moment for Queensland’s energy transition.”

Quinbrook plans to use the same technology for a 250 MW, 2,000 MWh addition to the Supernode battery project near Brisbane, taking its capacity from more than 3,000 MWh (part of it contracted to Stanwell) to more than 5,000 GWh, ensuring it remains the biggest in the country.

Stanwell CEO Michael O’Rourke also said the use of 8-hour batteries could change the way industry and communities are powered.

“The system can absorb and store an entire day’s worth of solar generation when prices are low and then deliver a continuous eight-hour supply during peak demand,” he said in a statement.

“It offers consistent, cost-effective energy without the need to stack or sequence multiple units. When paired with gas technology, it could provide firmed clean energy generation — ideal for manufacturing and grid support.”

If you would like to join more than 27,200 others and get the latest clean energy news delivered straight to your inbox, for free, please click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.