“Unsung hero:” New big battery near Australia’s biggest coal unit gets go ahead

Akaysha Energy, the Australian battery storage developer backed by global funds giant BlackRock, has reached final investment decision and balance of plant on its 150MW/300MWh Ulinda Park big battery in Queensland.

Akaysha’s first ever project, the Ulinda Park battery energy storage system (BESS) is being developed near to the 750 MW Kogan Creek coal generator in the Western Downs region of Queensland – the country’s biggest single coal unit – where it will support the exit of fossil fuels from the state’s electricity system.

Akaysha CEO and managing director Nick Carter marked the “amazing milestone” on LinkedIn on Wednesday, describing the Ulinda BESS as one of the “unsung heroes” of the company’s portfolio.

“Ulinda Park was our first-ever development at Akaysha Energy right back at the start. So we have a soft spot for it, it’s been a journey,” Carter says in the post.

“The Waratah Super Battery gets a lot of the attention/headlines, but the unsung heroes of the Akaysha Energy battery portfolio will become Ulinda Park BESS and the other large battery developments that are rapidly marching towards FiD across the NEM, accelerating the energy transition.”

In a separate company announcement, Akaysha said construction of the two-hour BESS would begin next month, in partnership with Powin, eks Energy, Consolidated Power Projects, Re2 Capital, Powerlink, Wilson Transformer Company and Renewable Energy Partners.

“The Ulinda Park BESS will support the rapid expansion of solar and wind projects leveraging existing transmission infrastructure in the Western Downs region and ensure cost efficient delivery of clean energy to Queensland customers, whilst supporting the network,” it said.

The Melbourne-based Akaysha Energy was established in 2021 by former Tesla, Macquarie and Engie executives and quickly built up a portfolio of large-scale energy storage projects planned for across the National Electricity Market.

The company and its portfolio was bought up by Blackrock in August of last year, after which Akaysha quickly landed one of the biggest prizes in Australian energy storage and the world: the 850MW/1680MWh Waratah Super battery.

As well as Ulinda Park and the Waratah Super Battery, Akaysha is also developing the 200MW/400MWh Brendale BESS in the outer suburbs of Brisbane and the Orana BESS near Wellington in central-west NSW, which will deliver a 400-1600MW and up to 1600MWh big battery in up to two stages.

Akaysha also has in-house software that, using artificial intelligence algorithms, handles buying and selling of electricity in wholesale markets, allowing batteries to fine tune how they make money from energy arbitrage.

See RenewEconomy’s Big Battery Storage Map of Australia