Australia activates Blackrock’s A$1 billion super battery which will be world’s most powerful

[SYDNEY] Australia’s A$1 billion (S$833 million) Waratah Super Battery has begun operations and is expected to have the world’s largest power output when fully commissioned later this year.

With 350 megawatts already online, the 850-megawatt battery operated by Blackrock-owned Akaysha Energy will help buffer grid shocks during outages, according to a statement by the New South Wales Government.

Once a laggard in energy storage, trailing early adopters such as China, the US and Germany, Australia has vaulted into the top five utility-scale battery markets. The country leads globally in rooftop solar per capita, which floods the grid with cheap daytime power but also creates challenges for system stability. That’s spurred a wave of battery projects to help balance supply and demand, especially ahead of the widespread coal plant closures expected by 2035.

Batteries are now more important than ever to stabilise the grid, Akaysha chief executive officer and former Tesla executive Nick Carter said.

The battery will be capable of supplying energy to almost one million homes for an hour, according to a spokesperson for Akaysha. It spans almost 140,000 square metres, or about 14 hectares, and is being built on the site of a former coal-fired power station north of Sydney.

“This is the first of our projects to go into operation, and there are many more to come,” said Hannah McCaughey, chief executive officer at EnergyCo, the state government body overseeing the project.

While the battery will have the world’s largest power output when fully operational, several larger projects are under construction or have secured financing, according to data compiled by BloombergNEF. BLOOMBERG