AGL has turned on the second largest battery in Australia at its Torrens Island site

AGL’s new battery at Torrens Island has gone live, and can store enough electricity to power 75,000 homes for one hour.

AGL's 250 MW / 250 MWh grid-scale battery at Torrens Island. Picture: Supplied

AGL will on Tuesday launch the second largest grid-connected battery in the nation, located at Torrens Island, which it says has the capacity to store enough energy to power 75,000 homes.

The company’s chief executive Damien Nicks said the opening of the 250MW/250MWh battery was a key milestone for the company which is aiming to build out up to 12GW of renewable and grid-firming capacity by 2035.

“This battery is the second largest battery in Australia,’’ Mr Nicks said.

“It will provide enough electricity to power approximately 75,000 South Australian homes for one hour - with the option to extend the duration to four hours in the future when the market is ready.

A closer view of the battery cabinets. Picture: Supplied

“We are taking action to deliver on our transition goals - this battery was constructed within 18 months - a great example of what can be achieved when government, regulators and the private sector are all working together.”

AGL in November announced it had brought forward the closure of its Torrens Island gas plant by nine years to 2026, with the almost 50 year old plant made unviable by the prospect of more energy flowing through the pending interconnector with NSW, which is set to go live in 2026.

The company was handed almost $20m from the South Australia Government for maintenance on part of the gas plant to ensure the facility could continue operating out to 2026, rather than shut down this year.

AGL in 2021 mothballed one of the four gas power units at Torrens Island.

Mr Nicks said adapting the Torrens Island site to house a major battery was “the transition in action’’.

“Importantly, this milestone demonstrates how we can make the most of our grid connections, land and people to redevelop our thermal generation sites into industrial energy hubs,’’ he said.

“On this very site in the past four years, we have announced the closure of a thermal power station, built a flexible peaking plant and commissioned the second largest battery in Australia.”

The battery is made up of 218 battery cabinets and more than 6000 battery modules, and can provide additional capacity and frequency control services “in milliseconds’’ AGL said.

Originally published as AGL has turned on the second largest battery in Australia at its Torrens Island site