The Kwinana big battery – the first big battery to be built in Western Australia, the world’s biggest isolated grid and one already surging along the renewables path – has finally been switched on.
Data from the Australian Energy Market Operator shows that the 100MW, two hour (200MWh) battery was registered on April 26. It is expected to begin charging and discharging and working through the commissioning process shortly.
The Kwinana battery is not the first big battery in the state – several have been built off-grid at the site of mines, and in the mini-grids that power the giant iron ore mines in the north of the state – but it is the first in the main grid, known as the South-West Interconnected System (SWIS).
The battery is being built for Synergy by French based NHOA Energy, formerly known as Engie Electric Power Systems, and is using batteries supplied by CATL.
It was due to be commissioned late last year, but was delayed initially till February, and then to April, and has suffered cost overruns of around $19 million over its original $165 million budget.
RenewEconomy sought comment from both Synergy and NHOA. Synergy said it may be in a position to respond next week, while NHOA did not reply.
According to WA Today, Synergy has plans to increase the capacity of the Kwinana battery to 200MW and 800MWh, or four hours of storage to time shift more wind and solar to periods of higher demand, and prices.
The battery will also help it take the pressure off its remaining coal fleet which dislikes sudden ramping in response to solar generation variations, and will be a cheaper alternative to gas.
WA is an isolated grid, with no connections to another state, but is running at a rate of more than 35 per cent wind and solar over the past year, and nearly 40 per cent in the March quarter, and has very high rooftop solar penetration.
It is not clear exactly what the issues were that caused the delay in the Kwinana registration, but other big battery projects in the eastern states have been held up by demands they include added equipment, such as harmonic filters, which have added to the cost and frustration of some of their developers.
The Kwinana battery is the first of a major new commitment to battery storage in WA. The state-owned Synergy has announced plans for more than 1,100MW of capacity, and French developer Neoen plans a 1GW (and possibly two hour battery) at Collie, the state’s centre of coal generation.
It is also reportedly looking at another 200MW big battery at Muchea, just north of Perth.
See RenewEconomy’s Big Battery Storage Map of Australia
