Half of the Waratah Super Battery is now live, providing a critical “shock absorber” function for New South Wales’ high-voltage network.
The first 350MW (700MWh) tranche of the 850MW/1680MWh system has entered service ahead of full commissioning later this year.
Located on the site of the former Munmorah coal-fired power station, the battery is the most powerful utility-scale energy storage system in the world and the first of its scale used to increase network capacity.
Commissioned by the NSW Government through EnergyCo and operated by Akaysha Energy, the project is designed as a System Integrity Protection Scheme (SIPS).
The SIPS monitors 36 transmission lines in real time, ready to inject up to 700MW of guaranteed capacity within seconds of events such as lightning strikes, bushfires or major faults.
Paired generation agreements allow the control system to simultaneously instruct generators to reduce output, balancing load and frequency.
“This achievement is the result of a tremendous collective effort spanning our global business units across all areas such as delivery, engineering, commercial and legal, technical integration, grid modelling, software, operations and trading,” said Akaysha Energy CEO Nick Carter.
Transgrid has delivered the SIPS control system – the largest and most advanced in Australia – and completed upgrades at 22 substations and four transmission lines to increase capacity.
“Specialist crews have also carried out upgrade work … to deliver additional energy to consumers when it’s needed,” said Transgrid CEO Brett Redman.
Once fully operational, the Waratah Super Battery will provide at least 1,400MWh of usable storage.
The system can fully charge in two hours and discharge instantly, capable of supplying 970,000 homes for an hour or 80,000 homes for a day. Its oversizing allows for capacity degradation over time while enabling excess energy to be traded in the National Electricity Market, potentially reducing the cost of SIPS to consumers.
“This is the first of our projects to go into operation, and there are many more to come,” said EnergyCo Chief Executive Hannah McCaughey.
“We look forward to more milestones in our renewable energy zones this year.”