A huge battery farm that can power up to 200,000 homes has been announced as the first project funded by the Victorian government’s revived State Electricity Commission.
The premier, Jacinta Allan, on Thursday announced the government would contribute $245m for a major stake in the Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub, which will be built in Melton, in the city’s west.
Set to be operational by 2025, the project will comprise three battery components – totalling 600MW in output – and may be capable of providing power to 200,000 homes for two and a half hours during peak periods.
Allan, who joined the battery’s operators, Equis Australia, to turn the sod at the construction site on Thursday, said it would be “one of the world’s largest batteries”.
“As we bring on more wind power, more solar power, battery storage is a big and important part of that mix to be able to store the energy and deliver it to homes and businesses around the state,” she said.
During last year’s election, the Labor government pledged to bring back the SEC, which was the state’s provider of electricity before it was privatised in the 1990s by the Kennett government.
It also committed an initial investment of $1bn to deliver 4.5GW of power through renewable energy projects, which the government said was enough to offset the closure of the coal-fired Loy Yang A power station, planned for 2035.
David Russell, the managing director of Equis Australia, said while the project was already under way, the SEC’s investment has allowed it to be expanded.
“This is very unique. We’ve been involved in over 240 renewable energy projects across the [Asia-Pacific] region and it’s the first time … we’ve partnered with the government from the start,” Russell said.
“The partnership resulted in an expansion of the project to a four-hour battery, which will result in more capacity being put into the system, which will drive down prices.”
He said Equis Australia was also ready to double the project in the coming years.
“We actually already secured the land and had the planning approvals in place and have already discussed with AusNet, doubling the capacity of this battery project so we can expand it to 1,200MW of capacity,” Russell said.
“[It would] move us to the largest battery in the world and would actually allow us to satisfy 50% of those renewable energy targets set by the government for 2030.”
Kat Lucas-Healey, the senior climate and energy adviser at Environment Victoria, welcomed the investment. She said battery storage was an “important piece of the puzzle” as the state transitions to renewables.
“It’s really good to see the SEC doing what it said it was going to do – it provides certainty so that the industry invests,” she said.
“There is a need though, to bring people along, to make sure that we’ve got the skills and tradespeople to do this work and … do it properly, making sure that environmental and cultural values are protected.”
Victoria was already host to a 300MW battery at Moorabool, near Geelong, operated by French energy company Neoen, which stores energy to power more than 1m homes for 30 minutes.
But the two biggest batteries in the world are in California and Florida– generating 400MW and 409MW, respectively.
