AGL gets green light for big battery at Liddell coal site.
Electricity giant AGL has secured planning approval to build a grid-scale battery on the site of the soon-to-be-closed Liddell coal-fired power plant in the Hunter Valley, beginning its proposed transition to a low-carbon “energy hub”.
The New South Wales government announce it has granted planning approval for AGL’s plans to build the grid-scale battery with a capacity of 500 megawatts and 2 gigawatt hours, making it more than three times the initial size of the “Tesla Big Battery” famously built by Elon Musk in South Australia in 2017.
NSW Treasurer Matt said the Liddell battery was set to play an important role in ensuring reliable electricity and keeping a lid on power prices as coal-fired generation is increasingly withdrawn from the east coast grid.
Matt, NSW Treasurer, said:
Big batteries combined with solar, wind and pumped hydro will help to deliver some of the cheapest and most reliable energy to the families and businesses of NSW.
Mr Kean described the planning approval as a big win for the Hunter Valley, and said he expected the project to generate 100 construction jobs and $763 million of investment.
As the transition away from fossil fuel-based electricity gathers speed in Australia and around the world, battery technology is emerging as key to supporting the greater uptake of renewables because of its ability to soak up and store excess wind and solar power when demand is low and release it during periods of high demand when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining.
Batteries are also used to provide inertia services to ensure the grid remains stable if disruptions emerge.
AGL’s Liddell battery is part of the company’s planned national roll-out of 850 megawatts of grid-scale batteries, with construction under way at Torrens Island and planning progressing at Broken Hill and Loy Yang.
AGL chief operating officer Markus Brokhof said the transition of the Liddell coal-fired power plant into an integrated, low-carbon energy hub would mark company’s first rehabilitation of a thermal coal site.
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AGL gets green light for big battery at Liddell coal site, March 19, 2022
