The Kwinana big battery near the old gas power station.
State owned energy utility Synergy has awarded the construction and balance of plant contract for what will be – at least for a brief time – the biggest battery storage project on Western Australia’s main grid.
The company says GenusPlus, which built the company’s first 100 MW, two hour battery at Kwinana, has been awarded the $99 million contract for the much bigger 200 MW, four hour (800 MWh) stage two battery at the same site.
The Kwinana battery is part of a suite of new projects backed by the state government and contracted by the Australian Energy Market Operator to soak up the growing share of rooftop solar in the world’s biggest standalone grid, and transfer that power to the evening peak.
The $625 million Kwinana battery will likely be the first of those new batteries to be completed, with the current schedule suggesting it will be in operation by the end of 2024.
But it will quickly be pipped for the title of the biggest when Neoen completes its 219MW, 876 (MWh) battery at Collie. Synergy will then trump that again with a 500 MW, four hour battery near the same town.
GenusPlus says it is being paid $90 million for the provision of the civil and electrical balance of plant works, including installing and commissioning 288 battery container units and 72 inverters. Its statement suggests the storage capacity of the battery will actually be 1,000MWh.
At its annual general meeting last week, the listed GenusPlus said battery storage installations in Australia are growing rapidly from 500MW in 2022 to more than 12.8GW by 2030 (with varying levels of storage).
“Today, Australia makes up less than 3% of the total global installations for battery energy storage and is the seventh largest market globally,” it said in its presentation.
“By 2030, it is forecast to comprise 7% of global installations and become the third largest market.”
The company said there are currently 33 big battery projects under construction (or due to commence soon) around Australia. This is based on projects that have reached financial close and are not yet commissioned.
See RenewEconomy’s Big Battery Storage Map of Australia for more details.
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