December 22, 2022: Australia announced financial support on December 19 for seven new grid-scale battery projects across the country, including retrofitting an existing BESS, with a combined storage capacity of 2GW/4.2GWh at a total cost of AUD2.7 billion ($1.8 billion).
Federal climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen said the projects would share AUD176 million in conditional funding through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s (Arena) major round of battery storage funding.
Arena funding will include new BESS projects in New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia. Funding will also support the retrofitting of the Victorian Big Battery to provide the unit with grid forming capability.
The eight projects were selected from a shortlist of 12 announced on July 6. The Arena received 54 expressions of interest for the competitive funding round.
Arena said each of the new lithium ion battery projects will feature grid-forming inverter technology to provide essential system stability services, traditionally provided by fossil fuels. such as coal and gas and will represent a tenfold increase in electricity storage capacity that forms the grid operation of the National Electricity Market.
Arena CEO Darren Miller said: “This pipeline of grid-forming projects will help bring us closer to an electricity grid that can support 100% renewable energy in the National Electricity Market.”
