Australia awards grants to 2 GW/4.2 GWh of battery storage projects

Hornsdale Power Reserve. Image by: ARENA (www.arena.gov.au).

Eight grid-scale battery projects totalling 2 GW/4.2 GWh have secured AUD 176 million (USD 118.1m/EUR 111.1m) in conditional grant funding in a competitive round by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

The selected proposals represent a combined investment of AUD 2.7 billion, ARENA said on Saturday. The government agency received 54 expressions of interest in the competition and in July shortlisted 12 schemes to submit full applications.

The list of winners is available in the table.

Developer	Project capacity	Type	Location
AGL	250 MW/500 MWh	New	Liddell, New South Wales
FRV	250 MW/550 MWh	New	Gnarwarre, Victoria
Neoen	300 MW/450 MWh	Retrofit	Moorabool, Victoria
Neoen	200 MW/400 MWh	New	Hopeland, Queensland
Neoen	200 MW/400 MWh	New	Blyth, South Australia
Origin	300 MW/900 MWh	New	Mortlake, Victoria
Risen	200 MW/400 MWh	New	Bungama, South Australia
TagEnergy	300 MW/600 MWh	New	Mount Fox, Queensland

The batteries will be equipped with grid-forming inverter technology, enabling them to stabilise the grid without the need for coal and gas generators. All of them are expected to reach financial close in 2023 and become operational by 2025.

Risen Energy said separately that its Bungama project is currently going through grid connection approval and the facility is scheduled to go online by mid to end 2024. AGL will install batteries at the site of the Liddell coal-fired power station, which will be shut down next year. France's Neoen, meanwhile, will build two new facilities and will retrofit the 300 MW/450 MWh Victorian Big Battery to add grid-forming capabilities.

The projects were selected as part of ARENA’s Large Scale Battery Storage Round in December 2021, which initially aimed to disburse AUD 100 million in grants to incentivise grid-scale batteries with advanced inverters, also known as grid-forming inverters. The initial funding envelope was later extended due to "the high quality of applications received."

(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.671/EUR 0.631)

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