25 July 2024

'Futureproofing' power supply: Williamsdale big battery gets green light

| Ian Bushnell
Join the conversation
112
render of Big Battery

What the big battery at Williamsdale will look like. It will help stabilise the grid as renewable generation grows. Image: ACT Government.

A development application for a grid-scale, 250 MW battery complex at Williamsdale has been approved, with conditions, and is expected to start construction later this year.

To be built by Eku Energy in partnership with the ACT Government, the big battery will support grid reliability and help to integrate greater amounts of renewable generation into the electricity system.

It will form Stream 1 of the government’s Big Canberra Battery Project. It is designed to help future-proof Canberra’s energy supply and generate about 180 to 200 jobs.

READ ALSO Yet-to-be-approved four-storey complex flagged as Woden Community Services’ new home

The complex – including the battery, substations and power lines – will be built on a grazing block in an ‘electrical infrastructure hub’ near the southern border with NSW.

The hub includes the Williamsdale Solar Farm, Evoenergy and Transgrid substations, and Evoenergy’s Gilmore transmission line, to which the complex will connect.

The battery itself will consist of up to 136 standalone integrated battery/inverter stations (8.8 metres long x 1.7 metres wide x 2.8 metres high) and about 68 standalone transformers.

There will also be operational control buildings, a storage warehouse, toilet and shower facilities, and a 500,000-litre water tank for fire fighting.

Conditions placed on the project include the installation of acoustic noise walls, a dam to draw water from in case of fire, the restoration of native grasses and the replanting of trees cleared during construction.

Eku Energy CEO Dan Burrows said the project was a significant milestone, marking the company’s first GWh of projects in delivery in Australia.

“We are proud to be working in partnership with the ACT Government to deliver the development of the first stream of the Big Canberra Battery,” he said.

“The approval of the development application is an important milestone as we move towards construction commencement in 2024.

“This battery will provide safe, secure and reliable energy to Canberrans, and we are thrilled to be supporting the ACT Government’s commitment towards achieving net zero emissions in the Territory by 2045.”

The government has also finalised the installation of batteries at nine government sites across the city as part of Stream 2 of the Big Canberra Battery Project.

The sites are Belconnen Parks Depot, Gungahlin Family and Child Centre, Allara Depot, Kambah Depot, Ron Reynolds Centre in Cutin, Chifley Community Hub, Ngunnawal Bush Healing Farm in the south of the ACT, Cotter Depot and Greenway Ambulance Station.

The batteries capture energy generated from rooftop solar panels, which will help power the sites and reduce electricity costs, benefitting the broader network during peak electricity consumption times.

Two further batteries will be installed at Mt Stromlo High School and 255 Canberra Avenue, Fyshwick, in early 2025.

READ ALSO Cross-border flak could hurt solar farm proposal

The government has also partnered with the Federal Government and Evoenergy through the Community Batteries for Household Solar Program to install three medium-sized neighbourhood-scale batteries in Casey, Dickson and Fadden.

A battery operator will be chosen in late 2024 after a tender process.

The government says the Big Canberra Battery Project will provide renewable energy security across the electricity grid, help the ACT grow its renewable energy sector, provide more local employment opportunities, and deliver a positive financial return for the Territory.

It says battery storage technology will be critical to reaching net-zero emissions.

Join the conversation

112
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

Fantastic, congratulations.

HiddenDragon7:35 pm 26 Jul 24

Given the uncertainties of weather-dependent power generation, projects like this are better than nothing – but not much.

Spruiking a facility which will mean slightly shorter power outages for slightly fewer homes and businesses as “futureproofing” is typical of the intelligence-insulting Orwellian b/s which characterises so much of the messaging on renewables – “bandaiding” (or “placeboing”) would be a more honest description.

If you think so, HiddenDragon.

Fortunately, the people who actually plan and build the stuff know more than you. If you think otherwise, feel free to write a letter to them explaining their deficiencies.

Victor Bilow5:19 pm 26 Jul 24

Eku Energy jointly owned by a fund managed by Macquarie Asset Management’s Green Investment Group (GIG) and institutional investor British Columbia Investment Management

https://www.infrastructureinvestor.com/macquarie-charges-ahead-in-the-battery-business/

So, the battery but first the massive water tank in case it explodes. So who wants to live near a massive bomb that when it burns burns near 1,800C and cannot be extinguished with water? Not me and not anyone else with a brain. Then there is the pitiful amount of energy it can store. So how many minutes can it supply power to the grid and how much energy is required every day just to keep it fully charged? Yet another green dream that doesn’t actually work and will use far more energy than it will ever supply to grid. Then in 10 to 15 years you dismantle it for recycling if you can but more likely bury it in landfills.

Alex Stephens1:49 pm 26 Jul 24

A marvel of modern engineering, like the Titanic in its time. However, one would hope that given the imperfect nature of human endeavour, sufficient consideration has been given to disaster prevention and effective emegency response. Noting the nature of the materials used (assuming Li-ion), which can generate heat to 1000 or more degrees in a self sustaining combustion process. The addition of firefighting water at this temperature creates a hydrogen ion fire, by the breaking down of water into its component elements of oxygen and hydrogen. Hence, I believe that there has as yet been no effective solution developed to combat battery fires in open air, i.e. outdoors apart from letting the fire burn itself out with emissions of significant quantities of toxic fumes, let alone the simple loss of storage capacity. One would hope that a second battery would be constructed for redundancy in the case of the latter; and that the battery units would be placed sufficiently far apart to prevent ignition from radiant heat from a fire in one unit from speading to an adjoining unit and creating a chain reaction of destruction. Judging by the scale of the graphic, I doubt that this is the case given the commercial nature of the enterprise and attendant profit motive above service provision, relabilty and safety, of which IMO, there have been many examples throughout history.

Capital Retro11:04 am 26 Jul 24

Eku’s website says the $300-$400 million battery should be online by 2025, with the capacity to store enough energy to power one-third of Canberra homes for two hours during peak periods.

What happens to the other two-thirds of Canberra’s homes?

Their CEO Dan Burrows lives in the UK, not Canberra.

“reduce electricity costs” it seems that Ian takes his readers for fools

wasting money on the production of batteries isn’t future proofing energy security. What it is doing is wasting the rare lithium in the earth that could be used for future space exploration.

Sounds good in theory but given how much we are already in debt, how much the ACT is paying just on interest payments alone, I have to question how much these are going to cost us?

Also, how long will the batteries last? Has there been a cost/benefit analysis done? Based on the ACT government’s history… probably not.

Batteries are a storage mechanism and their capacity should be measured in MWh (megawatt hours) and then provide the information on the flow rate or how many hours the battery can last.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.