Victoria’s biggest solar farm connected to grid – now for new Tesla battery

Victoria’s biggest solar farm – the 60MW Ganawarra project in north-west Victoria – has been connected to the grid, and will soon begin working on the installation of a new Tesla big battery that will make it one of the biggest solar-storage installations in the world.

Ganawarra, jointly owned by Wirsol Energy and Edify Energy, is the first large-scale solar farm to be constructed and grid connected in Victoria. The commissioning process has commenced and full production should be achieved in the next few weeks.

The project, located between Swan Hill and Kerang, will soon begin work on the Gannawarra Energy Storage System – which will be a 25MW/50MWh Tesla Powerpack battery that will enable some of the solar plant’s output to be time shifted into the evening, or peak demand periods.

This battery – one of three to be installed in Victoria – will be completed before the start of next summer, so by December 1. The output from both the solar farm and the battery storage installation are contracted to EnergyAustralia.

“The Gannawarra solar farm is in every respect a world leading project and is testament to the future role of solar in enhancing energy supply across Australia,”  Mark Hogan, managing director of Wirsol, said in a statement.

Note: Paul McArdle, from Global Roam, who do our NEM-Watch widget, notes that the solar farm has actually been exporting to the grid at low levels for a few weeks now. To read graph, please click and expand.

And another Note: To hear an interview with Angus Gemmell, of Solar Choice, who initiated the development of Ganawarra and several other big projects in Victoria and Queensland, please listen to our latest Solar Insiders podcast, which you can find here.