Plans for two separate battery energy storage projects in Victoria, Australia, have been given the go-ahead by the state government.
In the first scheme, a 25MW/50MWh Tesla Powerpack battery— the Gannawarra energy storage system (GESS)— will be integrated with the 50MW Gannawarra Solar Farm.
Renewables developers Edify Energy and Wirsol Energy have been awarded the tender for the Gannawarra project, which is being backed with a grant of AUD25 million ($19.2m) from Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
When complete, GESS and the solar farm “will be among the largest integrated solar and storage facilities in the world and the largest in Australia”, the developers said.
The project includes “a first-of-a-kind long-term commercial services agreement” with the utility EnergyAustralia, which will operate the battery in conjunction with its offtake from the solar farm.
In the second project AusNet Services, owner and operator of Victoria’s electricity transmission network, will host a 30MW / 30MWh BESS will be installed at the Ballarat Terminal Station in Warrenheip, Victoria.
AusNet said the AUD33m scheme will see the construction of Victoria’s first utility-scale lithium-ion BESS “which, once complete, will be the size of nine shipping containers and have the capacity to power more than 20,000 homes for an hour before being recharged”.
The project is funded by the Victorian Government, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, AusNet and EnergyAustralia.
Last year, South Australia took delivery of the world’s largest lithium-ion battery— a 100MW/129MWh Powerpack system— that was paired with French utility Neoen’s Hornsdale wind farm near Jamestown.