One of the largest four-hour battery projects to be added to Australia’s main grid has announced the start of commercial operations, just weeks after reaching full output on the New South Wales grid.
Melbourne headquartered battery developer Akaysha Energy said on Tuesday that its 415 megawatt (MW) and 1,660 megawatt-hour (MWh) Orana battery energy storage system (BESS), north-east of Wellington, has reached its final development milestone, with the commencement of commercial operations.
The Orana BESS has a virtual tolling agreement (VTA) with big-three utility EnergyAustralia for 200MW of capacity, which will enable the gentailer to notionally ‘charge’ and ‘discharge’ a 200MW ‘virtual battery’ within pre-agreed bidding parameters, independent of the physical operation of the battery.
The big battery was also one of the first, and the biggest at the time, to receive an underwriting agreement from a NSW tender as part of the state’s renewable infrastructure roadmap.
Orana is the third – and so far the biggest – battery project to be completed by Akaysha since it emerged as the surprise winner of a tender to build the country’s most powerful battery – the Waratah Super Battery at the site of the shuttered Munmorah coal fired power station on the NSW central coast.
