If you thought South Australia’s big battery was impressive, Victoria just said – hold my beer and is building one twice the size. Victoria is getting a massive 300MW battery, making it one of the world’s largest batteries in the world.
The battery has a 250 MW grid service contract with AEMO under direction from the Victorian Government. It will support Victoria’s clean energy transition and secure reliable, affordable power for Victorians, helping the state meet its renewable energy target of 50% by 2030.
The Victorian Big Battery will store energy in times of high production and release energy in times of high demand, similar to how a battery on a home solar system works. It will also help to stabilise the grid in a few different ways – it has an emergency response mode to prevent blackouts and it can maintain voltage and frequency levels.
The Victorian Big Battery will use Tesla Megapack technology, another big win for the US company.
Each Megapack is pre-assembled with the battery modules, bi-directional inverters, a thermal management system, an AC main breaker and controls in one enclosure.
Every Megapack arrives pre-assembled and pre-tested in one enclosure from the Gigafactory, including battery modules, bi-directional inverters, thermal management system, AC main breaker and controls. No assembly is required, all you need to do is connect Megapack’s AC output to the on-site wiring.
Thanks to this rapid deployment, construction of the Victorian Big Battery is estimated to take around 10 months, or in the later half of 2021.
The 300 MW / 450 MWh battery will consist of 210 Tesla Megapacks covering an area around the size of Geelong’s GMHBA Stadium.
When the South Australian battery went in, it created worldwide attention and many Australian’s have visited the site, quickly becoming a tourist attraction. If you’re in Victorian and keen to go see the Big Battery, it will be located near the existing Moorabool Terminal Station, approximately 13km northwest of Geelong.
This land is ideal because it is flat and is next to the high voltage 500KV transmission line which means the power can be sent quickly to where it is needed.
The Victorian Big Battery will support the increasing number of renewable energy (solar and wind) projects in Victoria.
Naturally when we talk about investments in large scale, progressive projects like this, the issue of cost is quickly raised. In this instance, the project will be privately financed by Neoen who are working in partnership with AusNet.
Every MegaPack comes with Tesla’s Autobidder software. Autobidder provides the ability to autonomously monetise battery assets. Autobidder is a real-time trading and control platform that provides value-based asset management and portfolio optimisation, enabling owners and operators to configure operational strategies that maximise revenue based on their business objectives and risk preferences.
Implemented on the Hornsdale Power Reserve 100MW / 129MWh battery operating in the Australian spot electricity market deployed in December 2017, Autobidder far surpassed revenue expectations in its two and a half years of operation and has fundamentally altered the landscape of Australia’s electricity market.
For more information, head to https://victorianbigbattery.com.au
Interesting and informative article but you really need to proofread before publishing. The two “Every Megapack …” are mostly duplicates – word for word.
The article needs a bit more “meat”. I would expect some financial details – such as costs, cost savings, effects on rates, etc. How will the financials of this installation compare to the well known savings of the Hornsdale project? Likewise, more tech info: impact on grid, relative capacity, current and projected sources of energy.
In essence, answer the question, “So what?” How does it affect the local power user? As it is, for a non-Tesla investor, it is not much more than a fluff piece.
Happy to add more detail as it comes to hand, the cost is usually a commercial agreement between the two parties and not always made public. If it is, then we’ll certainly be keen to watch the payback period.