Energy provider Powercor will install the country’s largest battery in the township to ease demand on the network in early 2016. 

The two-megawatt battery will provide about 3000 customers with an hour of back up power during an outage.

Currently, in the event of an outage the town remains without power until maintenance crews can resolve the problem.

The new battery will ensure customers still have power if an outage occurs.

Powercor regional business manager Richard Scholten said a number of factors contributed to Buninyong being chosen to house the battery.

“Buninyong is reaching capacity (on the network) now,” he said. 

Mr Scholten said it was quicker and more beneficial for customers for Powercor to install a battery as an alternate energy source, instead of upgrading the existing network.

Powercor head of strategy and business development Charles Rattray said a good relationship with the City of Ballarat also helped. 

“It was seen as the right place to deploy the battery, we have had support from local government,” he said. 

“We are trying to make the right decision for our customers.” 

Buninyong experiences an average of three outages per year, each lasting more than 100 minutes. 

The installation of the battery in Buninyong  has been likened to adding an extra lane to a busy highway during peak hour. 

 Powercor expects to test the battery in December 2015.