Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg to announce $30 million, 30MW battery on Yorke Peninsula
ANOTHER large battery to store renewable energy — about one-third the size of the state’s Elon Musk-backed project — will be built by summer’s end.
- Tesla to build giant battery as part of SA’s energy security plan
- Jay Weatherill’s $550m power security plan
ANOTHER large battery to store renewable energy — about one-third the size of the state’s Elon Musk-backed project — will be built by end of the summer.
The $30 million, 30MW battery will connect by February next year to the grid at lower Yorke Peninsula’s Dalrymple substation, near Yorketown and AGL’s 91MW Wattle Point Wind Farm.
High-voltage transmission network operator ElectraNet will design, build and own the battery but lease out the commercial operation to a yet-to-be-decided energy retailer.
Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg will be in regional South Australia today to announce funding of up to $12 million for the project from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
The project, coupled with extra statewide grid supplies including Pelican Point power station’s recently added 240MW capacity and Tesla’s 100MW battery, eventually will reduce the likelihood of widespread blackouts.
Tesla chief and celebrity billionaire Elon Musk joined Premier Jay Weatherill in Adelaide in July to announce his firm would build before summer the world’s largest lithium ion battery — 100MW — paired with a Neoen wind farm near Jamestown. The cost has not been revealed.
Mr Frydenberg said the Yorke Peninsula battery would reduce pressure on the Victorian interconnector, helping balance the grid by providing technical frequency services.
ARENA chief executive officer Ivor Frischknecht said the 8MW hour battery would complement Tesla’s state-owned battery to deliver reliable, secure power.
He said it would be the first large-scale, grid-connected battery to be designed, built and commercially operated in Australia, largely with private investment from energy providers.
“It may not be the biggest battery in the world but, pound for pound, it will pack a big punch in demonstrating how utility-scale storage can contribute to a stronger South Australian energy network,” he said.
“Battery storage is a key enabler as we transition to a system powered by variable renewable energy like wind and solar.”
Mr Weatherill declared that battery storage is the future for the national energy market, saying SA’s deal with Tesla had made the state a global leader and investors were paying attention.
The Yorke Peninsula battery’s three key roles will be to provide backup power in the nearby area, supply network frequency security services and demonstrate it can also provide power to the national market.
A 2016 study backed a 10MW lithium-ion battery for the Dalrymple area.
But the report concluded the project would need grant funding of about $14 million, nearly two-thirds of its cost.
Speaking after Tesla’s announcement Mr Frydenberg welcomed investment in storage but said it was “small compared to the scale of the problem the (state) Government created” and warned the public shouldn’t be tricked into believing it to be a silver bullet.