Transformer repair allows Australia’s most powerful battery to reach full storage capacity

The completion of repairs to one of its three transformers has allowed Australia’s most powerful battery to reach full storage capacity, although it is not yet in a position to deliver the entirety of its “shock absorber” contract.

Akaysha Energy says the Waratah Super Battery, located at the site of the demolished Munmoreah coal fired power station in NSW, is now operating at 700 megawatts (MW), or 82 per cent of its total rated capacity of 850 MW, and at 1680 megawatt hours (MWh), which is its full rated storage capacity.

The boost in output – from previous operating levels of around 400 MW – follows the successful return to service of one of the two transformers damaged in a “catastrophic” incident last October when the project was in the final stages of its commissioning process.

One of the transformers, however, was effectively destroyed in that incident and the Waratah battery will not reach its full rated capacity until later in the year when a new transformer is delivered and installed at the site.

That means that Waratah will continue to deliver just half of its System Integrity Protection Scheme (Sips) contract which requires it to act as a kind of giant “shock absorber” for the grid, allowing transmission lines feeding into major demand centres to operate at greater capacity.

Akaysha says the Waratah battery will continue to provide 350MW of the Sips contract, andthe other 350 MW of currently available capacity will be deployed into the National Electricity Market in the arbitrage and frequency services markets.

The delays to the delivery of the full Sips contract – originally due in May last year – has resulted in a cut in payments to Waratah and its “paired generators” of more than $90 million, according the Australian Energy Regulator.

Still, the return to service of the second transformer and the increased available capacity is timely given that Akaysha and its owner, the US-based investment giant BlackRock, have hired Macquarie Group to advise and test the waters for new equity partners, or even a change of ownership.

Akaysha recently reached full output at its 415 MW and 1660 MWh Orana battery in the central west of NSW, and is currently building the Elaine battery in Victoria and has just one a firming tender in South Australia with its Brinkworth battery project. It is already running the smaller Ulinda Park and Brendale batteries in Queensland.

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