The Finnish technology group Wärtsilä has been selected as one of two suppliers for AGL Energy’s 1,000 MW grid-scale energy storage plans.
Wärtsilä has signed a non-exclusive five-year large-scale storage system frame agreement to supply energy storage projects in partnership with AGL.
This agreement will reduce tender timeframes for individual projects, enabling faster project schedules and commercial operation.
In 2020, AGL unveiled plans to develop energy storage installations near the Loy Yang A power station in Victoria (200 MW), Liddell power station (150 MW) and Broken Hill (50 MW) in New South Wales and Torrens Island (250 MW) in South Australia.
The grid-scale energy storage plans will play a key role in the Australian energy industry’s transition from traditional fossil fuels towards cleaner energy.
“Australia is a country with unparalleled renewable energy resources and a unique opportunity to swiftly decarbonize and move towards renewable energy. Flexible capacity such as energy storage will be needed to balance renewables and keep the grid stable and reliable,” said Kari Punnonen, director, Australasia, Wärtsilä Energy.
In 2018, AGL and Wärtsilä signed an EPC contract for the Barker Inlet Power Station (BIPS), a new power plant located on Torrens Island near Adelaide.
The main role of BIPS is to ensure reliability in the renewable-heavy South Australian power system by providing a balancing capacity to manage the variability from renewables.
In addition to flexible engine power plants, such as BIPS, energy storage will play a key role in balancing renewables.
Storage can take care of short duration balancing, whilst the flexible engine power plants can balance renewables for a longer duration.