Neoen Australia has announced a major milestone for Victoria’s electricity grid this afternoon, with a new 350MW ‘big battery’, now registered with AEMO.
Australia’s latest grid-scale battery is ready, just 205 days after the start of construction. Back in 2018, South Australia received worldwide attention when they contracted Tesla to created the largest battery storage at the time. That project was 100MW/129MWh in size and later expanded by a further 50MW/64.5MWh, after the energy savings were proven by saving SA over $150 million.
Victoria’s new battery dwarfs the Hornsdale project, with a massive 300MW/450MWh of capacity, achieved through 212 Tesla Megapacks and 54 inverters.
This will provide a critical boost to the state’s grid security while driving down power prices and supporting more renewable energy. This project helps Victoria on its path to reach 50% renewable energy by 2030.
Australia’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation has contributed around $160 million to the project. It was recently revealed that a Tesla Megapack starts at US$1Million, given there are 212 Megapacks in this project, the total cost of the project is likely quite a bit higher. The latest order page on Tesla’s website, shows that each container-sized Megapack features a max energy capacity of 3MWh, including integrated modules, inverters, and thermal systems.
Given 212 times 3MWh would be 636MWh, Tesla has clearly not loaded up each Megapack to capacity in this instance. If we take the 450MWh of capacity and divide it by the 212 Megapacks stated in the video, it works out to be 2.1MWh per container.
Based on the experience of South Australia’s big battery, we can expect Tesla’s autobidder software to rapidly respond to requests from the market for additional energy capacity. While other energy generation sources like coal and gas take seconds or minutes to ramp up production, Tesla’s battery storage solution can respond in fractions of a second. This enables the system to switch on and off more rapidly as needed.
While we’re in the Winter months currently, in the previous summer’s Victoria’s energy grid has come under pressure and customers were exposed to load shedding events. With this new capacity installed and soon activated, it’s a well-timed project, ahead of the 2021/2022 summer.
The South Australian project quickly became a tourist attraction, with many Tesla owners made a road trip to visit it. If you’re in Victoria, it’s time to start planning a road trip to Geelong to see the new Victorian ‘Big Battery’, located next to Moorabool Terminal Station.
