Energy Vault has announced the start of construction of a 200MW/2-hour battery energy storage system (BESS) being deployed at ACEN Australia’s New England Solar project near Uralla in New South Wales.
Once the initial BESS deployment is operational, it will be the first large-scale BESS of its kind in the New England Region of New South Wales.
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The BESS will be charged and discharged on a daily basis and designed to dispatch stored renewable energy at peak consumption hours to help meet the high demand during New South Wales’ peak load hours while reducing the region’s reliance on coal-fired power generation.
It is the first large-scale battery storage project to begin construction with the support of the NSW Government’s Emerging Energy Program.
“Today’s groundbreaking is a significant milestone for Energy Vault’s rapidly growing commercial footprint in Australia, and we’re very pleased to be working with ACEN Australia, its First Nations partners and the Uralla community on the project,” Energy Vault vice president of sales (Asia) Lucas Sadler said.
“New England Solar will serve as a critical source of renewable energy for the NSW region, and Energy Vault’s involvement is reflective of the company’s truly global approach to meeting the growing demand for reliable and cost-effective energy storage solutions.”
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The BESS deployments, developed under Energy Vault’s B-VAULT suite of fully integrated battery energy storage solutions, will be coupled with a special inverter, which enables advanced grid support functionalities such as voltage and frequency ride-through, grid support during disturbances, and reactive power control.
The use of the special inverter, combined with Energy Vault’s proprietary X-Vault integration platform and Vault-OS Energy Management System to control, manage and optimize the BESS operations, will allow for superior energy management capabilities.
