Neoen has confirmed the 50% expansion plan of the Tesla Big Battery system located at the site of its 315 MW Hornsdale wind farm in the state of South Australia.
The 50 MW/64.5 MWh expansion will be added to the initially planned 100-MW/129-MWh lithium-ion battery, officially known as the Hornsdale Power Reserve.
In its first year of operation, the battery has saved consumers more than AUD50 million (US$33.9 million), and the expansion which will be completed in the first half of 2020, will see these savings continue to grow.
Alongside additional power system reliability and continued cost savings to consumers, the expansion will provide an Australian-first large-scale demonstration of the potential for battery storage to provide inertia to the network which is critical to grid stability and the future integration of renewable energy. This will ensure South Australia can continue to harvest its world-class wind and solar resources and support the transition to net 100% renewable energy generation in the 2030s, and further drive down electricity prices for all consumers.
Neoen secured an AUD15 million (US$10.2 million) in grant funding from the South Australian government, which has pledged to distribute AUD3 million (US$ 2.03 million) per year over a five-year term through the Grid Scale Storage Fund.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) will provide AUD 8 million in grant funding, as well, while debt financing will be sourced from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).
