Australian big battery announcements from Amp Energy, Sunrise Energy, X-Elio

Australia’s prominent position in the utility-scale battery market has been underlined by announcements for three more big projects in the space of five days.

Canadian developer Amp Energy said, on Oct. 18, 2024, it had begun construction of the 150 MW/300 MWh first stage of its Bungama BESS, near Port Pirie, SA.

Three days later, Perth-based Sunrise Energy Group announced the Regional Joint Development Assessment Panel of Western Australia had approved its plans for a standalone 100 MW/400 MWh BESS, near the town of Wellesley, WA.

And Canadian-owned X-Elio said, on Oct. 22, it intends to construct its first Australian solar-plus-storage project by adding 148 MW of BESS to its Blue Grass solar farm near Chinchilla, in the Western Downs region of Queensland.

Western Downs

X-Elio, owned by Canada’s Brookfield Renewable Partners said it hopes to complete installation of separate 60 MW and 88 MW BESS at the solar site during 2026.

While the developer specified neither BESS storage capacities nor battery technology in its announcement, it stated the inclusion of grid-forming inverters would enable the site to offer grid ancillary services. X-Elio said Ingeteam and Narada will be technology partners on the project.

X-Elio recently received planning permission for the nearby Sixteen Mile solar-plus-storage site, which features a 120 MW/420 MWh BESS. The developer is also working on a 300 MW BESS in South Burnett, near the Western Downs.

Sunrise Energy’s AUD 200 million ($133 million) WA project will span five hectares in the Kemerton Strategic Industrial Area, near Bunbury. The sand mining site is next to a 132 kV substation and 330 kV terminal switch yard belonging to government-owned utility Western Power. The Sunrise BESS will connect to the South West Interconnected System grid via a 132 KV overhead transmission line and will access WA’s wholesale energy market.

Sunrise said a 12- to 18-month construction period would begin once all approvals are secured.

WA hosts a 560 MW/2,240 MWh BESS being built by French developer Neoen near the town of Collie and a nearby, 500 MW/2 GWh site being developed by state-owned utility Synergy, which operates the 100 MW/200 MWh first stage of its Kwinana battery and is constructing a 200 MW/800 MWh second phase which is due for completion in 2024.

South Australia

Amp Energy revealed its SA project will feature quantum high energy storage technology from Finnish company Wärtsilä.

The BESS will offer grid services including frequency control ancillary services, fast frequency response, and energy arbitrage – storing energy when the wholesale price is low for sale during peak demand periods.

The project, part of Amp’s AUD 2 billion Renewable Energy Hub SA, will feature Wärtsilä’s GEMS digital energy platform, which conducts intelligent power control and optimized energy management operations. Amp said Wärtsilä will provide a long-term service agreement for the project.

The renewables hub will also feature three utility-scale solar sites with a total generation capacity of 1.36 GW.

Amp Energy signed a transmission network connection agreement for the Bungama BESS with SA’s high-voltage transmission network owner ElectraNet, in 2023.

From pv magazine Australia