Finnish technology group Wärtsilä said it has been chosen as the preferred contractor to deliver the first phase, 460 megawatts (MW) and 920 megawatt hours (MWh), of the Eraring energy storage project.
The battery, according to Wärtsilä, will be installed at Origin’s Eraring power station, with the Australian company having the option to expand the battery to 700 MW and 2,800 MWh in the future.
The companies have signed an engineering equipment delivery (EEQ) contract with a total value of just over €300 million ($329.1 million), Wärtsilä’s largest energy storage deal to date, the company said in its statement. Wärtsilä expects to start delivering equipment from October 2023 and complete it in September 2024.
The Eraring battery will connect to Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM) and support energy security and reliability in the state of New South Wales as the penetration of renewable energy supply increases variable, says the statement.
“With significant solar and wind resources, Australia is in a unique position to rapidly decarbonise its energy sector. The flexible capacity, provided by energy storage projects such as Origin’s Eraring Battery or Balance Drives from grid, will be vital to achieving this as the share of renewables increases.The scale of this project places Wärtsilä at the center of this trend, delivering gigawatt-scale energy storage projects at each of our key markets around the world,” said Håkan Agnevall, President and CEO of Wärtsilä.
“Eraring is a strategic location with a high-quality connection infrastructure that allows us to supply energy to the main demand centers. The development of the Eraring battery is a key step as we look to transform the Eraring site for the future, given our intention to phase out coal-fired generation as early as August 2025. We look forward to working with Wärtsilä and the key contractors to provide them. eraring battery safely and quickly,” said Greg Jarvis, head of power supply and operations at Origin Energy.
Wärtsilä’s Energy Storage System (ESS) is designed with the potential to shift operation to grid formation in the future, with the ability to supply a variety of auxiliary system power and system restart services , the company said. Wärtsilä stressed that this will offer stability and resilience to NEM as a higher proportion of renewable energy sources penetrate the grid, helping to facilitate Australia’s clean energy transition.
Wärtsilä further said that its GEMS digital energy platform is a critical aspect of the system, which monitors and controls the flow of energy, enabling these projects to provide grid support during periods of instability . With Wärtsilä’s Storage+ solution, the projects will provide firm capacity to balance Origin’s generation portfolio in support of its retail customer load, the company noted.
The project includes Wärtsilä’s GridSolv Quantum, a fully integrated modular and compact energy storage system, the Finnish company concluded.
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