From RenewEconomy, Australia, November 5:
French renewable energy developer Neoen has won a contract held by the Victoria government to the build the biggest battery in Australia in Geelong, providing essential services to the Victoria grid.
The 300MW/450MWh Victorian Big Battery will be more than twice the size of the 150MW/194MWh Hornsdale Power Reserve, which was until recently the biggest battery in the world, and was recently expanded to add new synthetic inertia and other key grid services to South Australia.
Like Hornsdale, the new Victoria battery will also be built by Tesla, but in this case using the new 3MWh Megapacks, which Tesla says can deliver a major peaking plant four times quicker than traditional fossil fuel projects.
The cost of the Victoria project has not been revealed, but will be borne by Neoen. It will, however, be paid a “service charge” of $12.5 million per year for a 250MW and 125MWh component under a 10 year contract with the Australian Energy Market Operator.
The Victoria big battery’s primary role will be to participate in Victoria’s System Integrated Protection Scheme, which like the Hornsdale battery will put it at the front line of providing grid security, thanks to the battery’s speed and flexibility, and allow for an increase in operating capacity on the main transmission link between Victoria and NSW....
....MUCH MORE
