French renewable and battery storage developer Neoen has gained development approval for a giant two hour battery in Tasmania, which would be the first such battery in the island state’s grid that is dominated by hydro power.
The 280 MW/560 MWh Great Lake battery will be built in two stages – each sized at 140 MW and 280 MWh – and will be located near the town of Poatina, which is about 50 kilometres south of Launceston in the central lakes district of the island.
The company says whether it embarks on the second stage will depend on “market factors” – or whether the first makes enough money to justify it.
It also says the battery will be between one to two hours duration, depending on technology selection and customer needs.
The battery will be used for grid stability, including frequency control, and load shifting.
Planning documents lodged with the Northern Midlands council show Neoen wants to start building on the site by mid-2024 and have the first stage in operation by 2026.
Location location location
The site itself is close to the Palmerston substation, which has a 220 kV connection, and is 42 km north of the 144MW Cattle Hill wind farm, in operation since 2020.
There are also several renewables projects proposed for the area, although only the one in operation today.
For example, Ark Energy is proposing a 300 megawatt (MW) wind farm on the other side of the town of Waddamana to Cattle Hill, while the state’s first major solar farm — a 288 MW project — is proposed on farmland for the other side of Poatina.
But while the Great Lakes Battery is centrally located in Tasmania’s proposed T3 or Central Highlands Renewable Energy Zone – an area identified by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) this year – it will also be competing against three hydro schemes.
The Great Lakes battery will be a neighbour to the 363 MW Poatina hydro power station, the 102.8 MW Trevallyn hydro power station, and the slightly more distant 1.6 MW Tods corner power station.
AEMO’s suggested make up of this particular zone included wind, a small amount of solar, and hydro. It did not include battery storage.
However, just as Genesis Energy is looking to utility scale solar in New Zealand to balance out energy generation during summer when hydro dams are lower, Tasmania might be looking to big batteries to do the same for its hydro schemes if climate change results in drier-for-longer weather for the island state.
In its planning documents the company says the location is ideal, as the Palmerston substation is a hub for direct connections Devonport, Launceston and Hobart, the three main load centres in the state.
A Neoen spokesperson told RenewEconomy that lithium-ion batteries are highly complementary to Tasmania’s hydro-dominated generation mix, saying the value in Tasmania is less in long-duration bulk energy storage and more in fast-response frequency control and other types of ancillary services.
Big ambitions
Neoen’s installed capacity of wind, solar and storage touched 3 GW in August. The company wants to have 10 GW installed in Australia by the end of the decade.
Neoen has been a pioneer of the battery storage sector in Australia. It built the original “Tesla Big Battery”, formally known as the Hornsdale Power Reserve (now 150MW/193MWh) in South Australia, and the Victoria Big Battery, which remains the biggest in the country at 300MW/450MWh. Both have contracts to provide specific grid support services.
The company also owns the smaller 20MW/34MWh Bulgana battery located next to the wind farm of the same name in Victoria, and the 6MW/1.4MWh battery at the Degrussa mine in W.A.
It has recently expanded the under-construction Western Downs Battery to 270 MW/ 540 MWh in Queensland, and is building the country’s first four hour battery, the 219 MW/876 MWh Collie battery in Western Australia that could be expanded to 1 GW/ 4 GWh.
Neoen is also building the 100MW/200MWh Canberra big battery as part of a deal with the ACT government and the 238.5MW / 477MWh Blyth battery in South Australia, helping to supply BHP’s massive Olympic Dam mine, and has numerous other projects in the pipeline.
