Tesla Megapacks – like these will be installed near Muswellbrook, NSW. The Aplsey battery manufacturer is TBC.
Two more grid-scale battery projects have been approved in NSW renewable energy zones.
Apsley: The New Home to a 120 MW / 240 MWh Battery
First, Apsley, a Central West NSW town where Transgrid will build a 120 MW / 240 MWh battery on a 6-hectare site.
Apsley is a small rural town in the Upper Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located about 243 km north of Sydney.
Muswellbrook’s Massive 150 MW / 300 MWh Tesla Megapack Installation
The second battery will be a whopping 150 MW / 300 MWh in Muswellbrook on a 1.5-hectare site adjacent to the Ausgrid substation. It will use Tesla Megapacks—presumably 75 Megapacks at 4 MWh each and a hardware cost of about AUD 200 million.
Muswellbrook is predominantly known for coal mining, and the town is home to one operating coal-fired plant, Bayswater Power Station – scheduled to close between 2030 and 2033.
Muswellbrook is also home to the Liddell Coal Fired Power Station, which closed in April and is converting to a renewable energy hub.
Strategic Locations within NSW’s REZs
Both Apsley and Muswellbrook are located within NSW renewable energy zones (REZs) – the Central-West Orana REZ and the Hunter Central Coast REZ.
The NSW government’s media release says the projects will
“create 132 jobs” and “inject $280 million into NSW’s economy”.
The government said these are among 27 renewable, transmission and storage projects proposed for NSW that would provide 9 GW of energy storage and 5.5 MW of firming.
Minister for Energy Penny Sharpe pointed out:
“Batteries are not only critical to supporting our state’s transition to net zero, they will assist us to get there sooner.”
She noted that the energy transformation “needs to occur as soon as possible”.
If the major proposals currently before the NSW government’s Department of Planning all come to fruition, a flood of batteries will be built.
There are at least 27 other locations currently under consideration, according to the government’s Major Projects site.
These include batteries at Eathorpe, Brandy Hill, Armidale, Smithfield, Wellington, Beresfield, Lismore, Bathurst, Narromine, Bellambi Heights, Eraring, Awaba, Calala, Colonga, Belhaven, Tomago, Mt Piper, Coleambally, Ridgey Creek, Lithgow, Wellington, Balranald, Warren, Dubbo, Wallerawang, Broken Hill and Lismore.
About Richard Chirgwin
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Great! Now how about a solar battery subsidy for us homeowners who put our cash across the table in earlier times?
After reading up on battery storage, it seems for a decent thorough put to run a household needs a lot of storage: $20K and over prices. But… the installation sites are all ready and waiting!
Both facilities can supply maximum power for 2 hours before requiring a recharge. So what powers the other 2 hours of the evening peak?
More than anything they are arbitrage machines. Buy low. Sell high.
Yes Josephine there really is such a thing as a free lunch. All paid for by retail consumers not wealthy enough to afford their own battery systems!
I can’t find out how much the new mega pack costs Australian utilities at the moment. I know they come with a 20 year warranty and a $6-7k per year maintenance contract but the actual cost is hard to find. Any Idea?