Victoria unveils its first giant battery storage project

The 30MW system down under is capable of powering more than 20,000 homes for an hour

The first utility-scale battery storage project in the Australian state of Victoria has been commissioned.

The 30MW Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) at Ballarat is capable of powering more than 20,000 homes for an hour and is able to respond to the needs of the grid “within milliseconds”.

The A$50 million (£27m) project – funded by the Victorian Government and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) – has entered the final phases of testing in preparation for it to be fully powered up next summer.

ARENA CEO Darren Miller said: “As we have seen with the success of large-scale batteries in South Australia, grid scale batteries have an important role to play in providing short term energy storage and providing rapid response injections of power to help stabilise the grid.

“This battery will help to ease constraints on transmission lines in Western Victoria that currently curtail the output of wind and solar, while also helping to bring in more renewables to the grid.”

The project has been delivered by a consortium consisting of Downer Spotless, AusNet Services, EnergyAustralia and Fluence.

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