Australia’s Origin building 650 MWh battery in Victoria

Origin Energy has begun building a large-scale battery alongside its gas-fired power station at Mortlake, in southwest Victoria, and has said 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, next to the Moorabool-to-Heywood 500 kV transmission line, within Victoria’s planned South-West Renewable Energy Zone, 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,” said McCullough. “This means the Mortlake battery can utilize existing transmission infrastructure and support both existing and new renewable energy generation in the area over the coming years.”

The estimated AUD 400 million ($271 million) project, which has been awarded conditional grant support by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, will 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 decarbonize.

“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,” said McCullough. “It also has the potential to help stabilize the electricity grid as the existing fleet of large coal generators retires.”

US-based energy storage system supplier Fluence has been appointed as engineering, procurement, and construction services contractor and will use grid-forming inverters supplied by Germany’s SMA.

Origin’s McCullough said, in late August 2024, the first of the battery units was due to arrive on site within days and the earthworks would commence by mid September 2024.

The project forms part of Origin’s plan to expand the size of its portfolio of renewable energy generation and energy storage projects to 4 GW by 2030.

Those projects include the Eraring battery being built in New South Wales’ (NSW) Hunter region. The 460 MW/1,073 MWh first stage of that site is 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 of capacity, are scheduled to begin early in 2025 and to come online in the first quarter of 2027.

Origin is also seeking approval to construct a 500 MW/2 GWh 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 a 500 MW/1,560 MWh facility to be built in two stages. Origin has also acquired an 800 MWh battery development in the Riverina region of NSW.

From pv magazine Australia.