Utility Zen Energy has acquired a large-scale 2.5 hour battery storage project from developer and IPP RES in Australia, with a forecasted commercial operation date (COD) of end-2024.Zen has acquired the 111MW/270MWh Templers Battery Project from RES, located north of Adelaide in South Australia, the utility’s first battery storage project.
Templers has received approval to connect to the grid and is expected to start construction in the second quarter of 2023, shortly after financing arrangements have been finalised. Construction is expected to take around 15 months.
That means the project should be energised, commercially operating and providing services to the National Energy Grid by the end of 2024. Zen will use the battery energy storage system (BESS) to support the delivery of energy to its customers in the state, and will also provide grid stability services to grid operator AEMO.
Anthony Garnaut, CEO of ZEN Energy, commented: “Storage plays a critical role in allowing more renewable energy into the grid. When it is commissioned in late 2024, the Templers battery will have the most storage capacity of the batteries in South Australia, and it will quickly followed by bigger batteries supported by ZEN and others.”
“At the rate we’re going, South Australia will be 100% well before 2030, enabling the revitalisation of core industries and for Australia to evolve into a renewable energy Superpower.”
Matt Rebbeck, CEO of RES in Australia, added: “RES is excited to have provided development services to ZEN on the final development items and continuing discussions to provide support with construction and asset management arrangements”.
Although Gaurnaut claimed the BESS project will be the largest in the state when it goes online, other larger projects are also in the works.
Developer Maoneng secured development approval in late 2021 for a 450MWh project, Gould Creek BESS, which it says on its website will be completed this year. France-based Neoen is working on a hybrid renewable project, which could potentially include 900MW of battery storage.
As previously written by Energy-Storage.news, grid operator AEMO forecasts that Australia will need 46GW/640GWh of energy storage by 2050 and recently said there was an ‘urgent need’ for a ramp-up in investment in long-duration energy storage (LDES).
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