It hasn’t been fully switched on yet, but the giant battery at the Ballarat Energy Storage System, in Warrenheip, is finally being commissioned.
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Now in the final stages of testing, the 30 megawatt/30 megawatt hour complex will improve stability and flexibility for the electricity grid, as more renewable energy comes online.
State energy minister Lily D’Ambrosio said on Tuesday it will be operational by this summer.
According to the consortium that constructed the facility, the system can power more than 20,000 homes for an hour of “critical peak demand” before being recharged.
Using cutting-edge software, it is able to respond to grid demands within milliseconds, smoothing out fluctuations across the day.
On the ground, the equivalent of about 6000 household batteries are stored in shipping containers, with monitors, sensors, cooling and safety equipment also installed.
Ms D’Ambrosio said there were “particular grid constraints and weaknesses” in western Victoria.
“This battery facility will help mitigate against the costly upgrades to networks that would otherwise need to be made to ensure we have the energy supply that we need at the time we need it,” she said.
“It ensures we have the fast, rapid response for energy supply to mitigate against increased cost of infrastructure upgrades along the network.”
Electricity from wind and solar facilities can be stored in the batteries, which can rapidly charge and dispatch the power to and from the grid.
During the day, for example, when the sun is out and wind is blowing, the batteries will charge, while in the evening, during peak times, the power can be dispatched to ensure demand can be met or sold as excess on the national market.
Australian Renewable Energy Agency chief executive Darren Miller said it was a unique facility, as it was a battery attached to the grid without a linked solar or wind farm.
“It’s operating as a battery purely as a piece of infrastructure on the grid to help stabilise the system,” he said.
“As renewable energy takes hold, what we need is technology and batteries like this to help stabilise and secure the grid to effectively remove any barriers to increasing renewable energy on the grid.”
The battery was built by Downer Spotless, supplied by Fluence, and is owned by AusNet and operated by EnergyAustralia.
The project generated about 50 jobs during construction.
The state government contributed $25 million to the project, matched by ARENA, which was initially expected to be finished before January 2018.
Construction instead began in March.
In January 2018, a heatwave caused a blackout which affected thousands of homes, and the two megawatt battery in Buninyong was not able to keep up with demand.
At the time, Ms D’Ambrosio said "(the Australian Energy Market Operator) were going to risk interrupting electricity supply in western Victoria (Bendigo and Ballarat) to make sure NSW could keep the lights on".
"I made it very clear that our government would not tolerate AEMO prioritising NSW over Victorian customers," Ms D'Ambrosio said in a statement in January.
Ms D’Ambrosio said on Tuesday AEMO had “made it clear” Victoria will have sufficient power this summer.
A second large-scale battery, a Tesla 25 megawatt/50 megawatt hour battery, will also be built, integrated with the Gannawarra Solar Farm, south-west of Kerang.
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