Hefei-based Sungrow Power Supply, one of China’s leading suppliers of PV inverters and energy storage systems, has broken ground on a battery energy storage (BESS) project in South Australia with its partners ZEN Energy, and China Energy Engineering Group Shanxi Electric Power Construction (SEPC).
The shovels of the partners were swinging to celebrate the start of the Templers Battery Energy Storage project near Adelaide, South Australia’s second largest energy storage installation and the second largest stand-alone Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in Australia. The 138MW/330MWh venture received grid connection approval from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) in early 2023. This milestone project is anticipated to achieve commercial operations in 2025.
Sungrow will supply its liquid-cooled battery technology, designed to enhance grid reliability by mitigating intermittency issues and stabilising power supply. The project will utilise lithium-ion battery cells, specifically lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) chemistry. LFP has low thermal runaway risk and is being deployed on other utility scale batteries around Australia at present. The battery system enclosure being used include active fire detection and suppression to minimise fire risk. The PowerTitan energy storage system is specifically tailored to meet the unique demands of the Australian market and regulatory landscape.
Joe Zhou, Vice President of Sungrow APAC said, “We are thrilled to commence the Templers project, a testament to our commitment to advancing energy storage solutions in Australia. Our collaboration with ZEN Energy and SEPC underscores the potential of innovative technology in driving sustainable energy goals.”
“The Templers battery is a key milestone in ZEN’s significant growth and marks our first 100 per cent owned major asset, in the state where we started,” said Anthony Garnau, CEO of ZEN Energy. ZEN is also involved in the Solar River project, setting up more than 400,000 PV panels generating around 250MW into the South Australian grid.
