Akaysha Energy, the battery energy storage system (BESS) developer acquired by investment firm BlackRock in 2022, has announced that the first 350MW in capacity and 700MWh duration of the Waratah Super Battery in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, is live.
The LFP BESS, which is located at the former Munmorah coal-fired power station near Sydney, is due to be the most powerful battery in terms of power and energy storage capacity. The full-size BESS will be 850MW/1680MWh when it is completed.
The firm said when the BESS is fully operational later this year it will provide a guaranteed continuous active power capacity of around 700MW and a guaranteed usable energy storage capacity of around 1,400MWh.
It is enough capacity to supply 970,000 homes with electricity for 1 hour, and supply 80,000 homes with electricity for a full day based on 21kWh per day usage.
The BESS’ primary role will be to support the NSW grid during emergency events as well as being a control system with arrangements for paired generation services and upgrades to existing power lines.
It can provide continued power due to having a System Integrity Protection Scheme (SIPS) service, as well as a paired communications system operated by TransGrid with a software system and signalling equipment.
It can monitor 36 transmission lines in real-time and respond instantaneously to system events.
Through SIPS the BESS will act as a stopgap measure until the Hunter Transmission Project, which will connect inland renewable energy zones to the rest of NSW, will come live.
The BESS has already prevented blackouts in Australia, such as in November 2024 during a heatwave when it had to maintain 96MWh of energy storage to the National Electricity Market with surges in demand, according to energy storage news.
Image: The Waratah Super Battery project located in NSW, Australia. Credit: Akaysha Energy.
