9 May 2023
The total capacity of big battery storage in Australia’s main grid has gone past one gigawatt with the recent addition of two new big batteries at Torrens Island and Hazelwood, but that number is expected to double and then treble in coming years.
The Torrens Island and Hazelwood batteries are not the biggest batteries to be added to the National Electricity Market, but in some ways they are significant because they are the first to be built at the site of flagship fossil fuel centres.
Torrens Island is where AGL has built its massive gas generation plants in South Australia, which it plans to transform into a clean energy hub, and Hazelwood was the site of the country’s dirtiest coal generator that was closed rapidly by French energy giant Engie.
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Both these big batteries have begun their commissioning process with just one hour of storage, because they are focused largely on the grid services market – Torrens is the biggest battery in the world with grid forming inverter technology.
But both are likely to grow – to two, four or even more hours of storage – as the market for batteries and time shifting wind and solar expands. And this is where battery storage gets interesting, because developers and owners are starting to unlock more of the big stack of services that big batteries can bring to the grid.
https://reneweconomy.com.au/big-batteri ... -the-grid/
Image: Victoria Big Battery. Credit: Neoen
