The Waratah “super battery” – the massive storage facility that is to partially replace the country’s biggest coal generator – is to be built at the site of a now demolished coal power station.
The NSW state government says the 700MW, two hour (1,400MWh) Waratah Super Battery will be built at Lake Munmorah, where a former 1400MW coal plant was closed a decade ago after nearly half a century of service, and near the Colongra gas peaking plant operated by the federal government owned Snowy Hydro.
The Waratah battery will be one of the country’s biggest batteries and is currently touted as the biggest “network” battery in the southern hemisphere, although its final capacity may be adjusted.
The focus of the $1 billion project will be to act as a short of “shock absorber” for the grid, rather than long term storage.
It will maximise the output from existing power stations, particularly for consumers in the major load centres of Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong, and act as a standby in the case of outages.
Biggest battery of its type in southern hemisphere
“The Waratah Super Battery will be the biggest network battery anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere, providing at least 700MW of standby network capacity to the grid,” minister for Energy Matt Kean said in a statement.
The siting of the battery at the site of the former Lake Munmorah coal plant is no surprise, given the existing infrastructure and because virtually all the state’s coal generators are now earmarked for massive battery storage projects. It was flagged as the likely site in May.
This includes the Liddell battery at the site of the Liddell coal generator, to be closed in 2023, and the 700MW/2800MWh Eraring battery at the site of the country’s biggest coal plant – the 2,800MW Eraring generator – which is due to be closed in late 2025.
The former Wallerawang coal plant near Lithgow is the site of two competing 500MW/1000MWh batteries – Great Western and Greenspot, while EnergyAustralia recently unveiled plans for a 500MW/2000MWh battery at the site of the Mt Piper coal plant.
The transmission company Transgrid has been commissioned to design and built a $30 million control system to trigger the battery into operation when additional energy is required.
Transgrid CEO Brett Redman says the battery will be connected at the company’s existing Munmorah substation.
“As part of the project we will carry out $150 million in upgrades to existing transmission lines and substations to enable additional energy generated in regional NSW to be delivered to consumers.
Battery to focus on system integrity
“Transgrid will also develop, install and operate a $30 million System Integrity Protection Scheme to monitor the network for disruptions, trigger the super battery into action when required, and dial down energy elsewhere in the grid to balance supply.”
This is a similar function to that commissioned at the original “Tesla big battery” at Hornsdale in South Australia, and the Victoria Big Battery near Geelong (pictured above).
“The co-location of the super battery and our substation will bring new life and jobs to the retired Munmorah coal-fired power station site as well as ensuring additional energy is located near high growth areas including the burgeoning Lake Macquarie and Central Coast regions,” Redman said in a statement.
NSW granted Critical State Significant Infrastructure status to the project earlier this year. Construction is expected to begin in early 2023, pending approval, and is scheduled to be completed by mid-2025 in advance of Eraring’s earliest closure date.
See also RenewEconomy’s Big Battery Storage Map of Australia
