South Australia unveils another big battery, this time with solar

South Australia is set to get another “big battery”, this time a 21MW/26MWh storage system next to a new 44MW solar farm to be constructed by Tilt Renewables.

The project, which will be situated next to the Snowtown 1 wind farm in the state’s mid-north, was announced by the Labor state government, hot on the heels of its announcement of the world’s biggest virtual power plant, also to be built by Tesla.

The battery project marks the fourth confirmed battery storage installation in the state, following the already complete Tesla big battery next to the Hornsdale wind farm, the 10MW/10MWh battery to be built next to the Lincoln Gap wind farm, and the 30MW/8MWh battery being installed next to the Wattle Point wind farm.

It also adds to the pipeline of confirmed solar farms, alongside the 220MW Bungala solar farm under construction, the 100MW Tailem Bend project, big plans by DP Energy and the Whyalla Steelworks, and several smaller projects.

Tilt Renewables, meanwhile, has also announced plans for a huge 300MW, 1350MWh pumped hydro energy storage project to be constructed in the disused Highbury quarry near Adelaide.

This joins a queue of pumped hydro projects proposed at Cultana by EnergyAustralia, another in a disused iron ore mine near Whyalla by Sanjeev Gupta’s SIMEC ZEN, and other projects on the Spencer Gulf.

The $90 million solar and battery storage project will receive a $7.125 million grant from the state government’s Renewable Technology Fund (also funding the VPP), and the whole will create about 200 jobs during construction.

The solar farm will connect into the grid next to the existing Snowtown Stage 1 Wind Farm substation, part of three wind farms with total capacity of 370MW.

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Jeff Sykes