According to foreign media reports, Australia currently has nearly 4 billion Australian dollars (2.72 billion US dollars) of battery energy storage projects that can receive financial support from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) launched a new round of funding for its large-scale battery energy storage systems earlier this year, providing A$100 million in funding for energy storage projects of 70MW or larger that will use advanced grid-connected inverter technology.
The agency said a few days ago that from the 54 projects that received expressions of interest (EOI), 12 projects have been shortlisted, with a total scale of 3,050MW/7,000MWh and a total value of A$3.7 billion. The winning bidders applied for a total of $297 million in funding. They have until July 20 to submit their full applications, and results are expected to be announced by the end of the year.
A solar farm and battery storage project in Gannawarra, Victoria, with funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) in 2018. To date, the agency has supported seven large-scale battery storage projects.
As industry media reported shortly after the funding round was launched, the maximum funding for each project was A$35 million, and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) said at the time that it expected to support at least three projects.
This isn't the first time the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has funded battery storage projects.
An example is the Commercial Energy Storage Integrated Renewable Energy (ESCRI) project operating in South Australia, which uses an advanced inverse energy storage system (BESS) on a 30MW/8MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) provided by Hitachi ABB Power Grids (now Hitachi Energy). transformer.
Commissioned in 2018, the project provides synchronized inertial services to remote areas at the far end of the transmission line, thereby ensuring grid operational stability, where renewable energy generation (mainly rooftop solar and large-scale wind facilities) is The local share of electricity generation has grown rapidly. Synchronized inertia is an important application, traditionally provided by thermal power plants for power systems.
According to industry media reports earlier this year, a 50MW/50MWh battery storage system in the Broken Hill region of NSW will also provide the same service. Battery storage system integrator Fluence has signed an agreement with utility AGL to supply the energy storage system for the project, with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) providing A$14.84 million of the expected total cost of A$41 million.
Australia's two largest existing battery energy storage systems are being retrofitted with grid-connected inverter technology, which should be implemented by the end of this year, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) said.
Chris Faris, acting chief executive of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), said, "Advanced inverters that help stabilize grid operations are the missing piece of the puzzle to support the transition to 100 per cent renewable energy penetration in the near term."
More broadly, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) referred to the recently released Integrated System Plan (ISP) by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), which highlights the impact of the Australian National Electricity Market ( NEM), there is an urgent need to deploy a large number of energy storage systems to maintain the stability of grid operations, as renewable energy generation accounts for a major share of total power generation.
Battery storage projects to compete with the new funding round must be connected to Australia's National Electricity Market (NEM) or Western Australia's wholesale electricity market.
