www.pv-magazine-australia.com /2024/08/27/origin-building-650-mwh-big-battery-in-victoria/

Origin building 650 MWh big battery in Victoria

David Carroll3-4 minutes

Energy utility Origin Energy has announced construction of a 300 MW / 650 MWh battery energy storage system being built at Mortlake in southwest Victoria has officially commenced, with works expected to be completed in late 2026.

August 27, 2024

Origin Energy has officially begun building a 650 MWh battery energy storage system alongside its gas-fired power station at Mortlake in southwest Victoria, saying the project will support more renewable energy generation in the region and enhance grid stability.

Origin General Manager of development and construction, Conal McCullough, said the site, adjacent to the Moorabool to Heywood 500 kV transmission line and located within Victoria’s planned South-West Renewable Energy Zone (REZ), is well suited to a large-scale battery.

“We’ve got the transmission line very close, we’ve got the substation, and the network infrastructure is already in place,” he said. “This means the Mortlake battery can utilise existing transmission infrastructure, and support both existing and new renewable energy generation in the area over the coming years.”

The estimated $400 million (USD 271 million) project, which has been awarded conditional grant support from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), is to feature grid-forming inverter technology. Origin said this will help keep the grid stable and support more renewable energy coming into the system as the market continues to decarbonise.

“When complete, the Mortlake battery will soak up and store excess renewable energy generated during the day and dispatch this energy into the grid during peak demand periods,” McCullough said. “It also has the potential to help stabilise the electricity grid as the existing fleet of large coal generators retires.”

United States-based energy storage systems supplier Fluence has been appointed as the EPC contractor and will utilise grid-forming inverters supplied by Germany’s SMA.

McCullough said the first of the battery units are due to arrive on site in the coming days and the earthworks will commence in the next two to three weeks.

The project forms part of Origin’s plan to grow its portfolio of renewable energy generation and storage capacity to 4 GW by the end of the decade.

Included in this is the Eraring battery being built in New South Wales (NSW) Hunter region. The 460 MW / 1,073 MWh first stage is currently under construction and is due to come online at the end of 2025. Works on the second stage, which will add an additional 240 MW / 1,030 MWh capacity, is scheduled to begin early in 2025 and come online in the first quarter of 2027.

Origin is also seeking approval to construct a 500 MW / 2,000 MWh battery at Kogan Creek in Queensland, and a 200 MW / 400 MWh battery at Templers Creek in South Australia, and has secured battery offtake agreements with Quinbrook’s Supernode project in Queensland, which amounts to 500 MW / 1,560 MWh over two stages. It has also acquired an 800 MWh battery development in the NSW Riverina region.

Might have been Origin @ Eraring.