The Waratah Super Battery energy storage system project, which has begun operating in Australia, has an installed capacity of 850 MW.
Unlike other large batteries tasked with shifting electricity generated from the sun from midday to evening, this system is tasked with supporting electricity transmission services.
By allowing existing transmission lines to operate at higher capacities, it will reduce wind and solar energy constraints and increase grid capacity.
To date, no battery of this scale has been used in this manner anywhere in the world.
What’s truly interesting is that implementing this setup is much faster than building new transmission lines, so as battery prices continue to fall while the costs of building new transmission lines remain high, will we see more of this?
The battery, located on the site of an old coal-fired power plant, consists of over 3,500 containers and involved approximately 1,000 people in its design and construction.
About half of the system (350 MW / 700 MWh) is currently active. By the end of the year, the battery’s full capacity (850 MW / 1,680 MWh) will be operational.
Source: Gavin Mooney