Ground has broken on construction of a 100-megawatt battery at Alinta’s Wagerup power station which will help smooth out supply for power in the state’s South West.
Ground has broken on construction of a 100-megawatt battery at Alinta’s Wagerup power station which will help smooth out supply for power in the state’s South West.
The new battery to be built by Shanghai Electric Power Design Institute and Sunterra will have two hours of storage capacity when it is switched on in 2025.
Similar to other batteries of their kind, energy will be stored during the day when the likes of rooftop solar is generating more energy and fed back into the grid at times of higher demand.
Alinta Energy chief development officer Ken Woolley said the battery would be commissioned in the second half of 2024.
“This project is a great example of how Alinta Energy, Western Power, AEMO and our key supply partners are rapidly mobilising to ensure the electricity system in South West WA has the smoothest transition to renewables possible,” he said.
“The battery will connect to existing high voltage infrastructure at the Wagerup Power Station.
“We’re excited about the contribution the Wagerup battery will make to stabilising the South West WA grid, and providing backup capacity when needed.”
A SEPD and Sunterra spokesperson said the project partners were committed to employing local companies on the build.
The 380-megawatt Wagerup station is one of two Alinta facilities in the South West, with the other generating 285 megawatts for the grid as well as powering Alcoa’s Pinjarra refinery.
The battery was initially penciled in to come online this year after first lodging plans with the Shire of Waroona in 2020.
Alinta’s battery will play a role in the Essential System Services market which rewards energy providers for maintaining the SWIS within its normal operating range, assisting with restarts after major disruptions, and improving reliability.
WA’s largest energy provider Synergy meanwhile is planning to quadruple its existing battery storage with a 200-megawatt system at the mothballed Kwinana power station. It’s existing 100-megawatt battery switched on in April can power about 160,000 homes for two hours.
Neoen is working on a battery in Collie due to come online in October next year and has proposed a 200 megawatt battery at Muchea north of Perth.
Of WA’s three operating big batteries, two are servicing mines – Agnew in the Goldfields and Mt Newman in the Pilbara. Fortescue has also commissioned batteries at its Solomon and Iron Bridge mines.
Alinta is building a 35-megawatt battery in Port Hedland to power BHP’s port facilities, Rio Tinto is working on a 45-megawatt battery for its mines.
Further batteries have been proposed in Merredin (Sun Energy, 20 megawatts), Uaroo (9100 megawatt-hours, Fortescue Future Industries), and Cunderdin (55 megawatts, Naturgy).
