Staff Reporter
22 July 2024 00:29
The state which blazed the trail for lithium ion grid scale batteries – South Australia with the Tesla big battery in 2017 – is to get a far bigger big battery.
While the Hornsdale Power Reserve, as it is properly known, originally had 129 MWh of storage, a new battery in the state’s south east will have 1,500 MWh.
Pacific Green, a global battery energy storage company, has achieved planning consent from the South Australian Government for its first two grid-scale battery energy parks in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia.
The Limestone Coast Energy Park assets will consist of a 0.5GW / 1.5 GWh battery energy storage system developed and constructed in two phases over the next 36 months. Once operational they will significantly strengthen the region’s grid stability.
Construction of the energy parks will begin towards the end of this year, with the first phase expected to be operational in the second half of 2026.
Pacific Green has launched a supplier portal and will host a local supplier networking morning in the coming weeks.
The Limestone Coast Energy Parks mark the first set of assets of an 8.5GWh development pipeline of battery energy parks Pacific Green is rolling out throughout Australia.
Leveraging its significant experience building out battery energy parks in the UK and Europe, the company is aiming to be one of Australia’s leading developers, and to help accelerate the country’s transition to renewables by building a multi-gigawatt platform nationwide.
The state Minister for Energy and Mining Tom Koutsantonis said: “An increase in storage will provide greater capacity at peak times, extending the availability of electricity generated by cheap renewables.
“It’s also particularly pleasing that Pacific Green has chosen the South East of South Australia for its project – greater diversity of storage locations will strengthen our security of supply and reliability.”
Picture: Pacific Green