Australia’s biggest approved battery—Origin Energy’s 460MW/1,770MWh Eraring Battery Stage 1 in New South Wales—has commenced commercial operations within the National Electricity Market (NEM).
Related article: Origin bumps Eraring Battery up to massive 700MW/2.8GWh
Origin head of energy supply and operations Greg Jarvis took to Linkedin to announce the news, saying, “I’m excited to share that Origin’s first large-scale battery at Eraring has commenced commercial operations. Eraring Battery 1 is 460MW/1,770MWh, allowing Origin to store electricity produced in the daytime from sources such as solar, and release energy when its needed most.
“This milestone is the culmination of a huge amount of work from our teams and contractor partners Wärtsilä, Enerven, Jacobs, Lumea and Transgrid to build the asset on time and under budget, integrate it into our portfolio, and develop the systems needed to bid it into the market. A very big thank you to everyone involved.
“Our Eraring battery is the largest approved battery energy storage system in the Southern Hemisphere—reinforcing the site’s role as critical infrastructure at the centre of Australia’s energy system for decades to come.”
Technology group Wärtsilä recently announced it would be delivering the fourth stage of the Eraring Battery. The expansion adds 360MWh of new energy storage capacity to the project, bringing the total capacity of the massive battery to 700MW/3,160MWh.
This will not only make the Eraring Battery the largest battery project in Australia, but one of the largest in the world. The extension will also allow the Eraring battery to provide increased capacity to help balance the grid as renewable generation grows and coal-fired plants retire.
Related article: Wärtsilä to deliver Origin’s Eraring Battery Stage 4
The Eraring Battery connects to Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM) and provides critical grid services, including frequency control, firming capacity, and system strength support, that enhance system security and reliability as variable renewable energy supply increases.
