Neoen, a renewable energy developer, has financially closed on the Victoria Big Battery project, an energy storage project with a capacity of 300 MW/450 MWh. While the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, on behalf of the Australian Government will provide debt financing of 160 million Australian dollar, Neoen will also hold equity. The battery storage facility will be located near Geelong, in Victoria.
The financing of the project has been completed just three months after Neoen secured a 250 MW grid services contract with AEMO. The project construction has already begun. The project is being developed in collaboration with Tesla and network partner AusNet Services. It is expected to be completed before the next Australian summer and will help Victoria move towards its target of 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030.
As per the System Integrity Protection Scheme (SIPS) contract Neoen has signed with AEMO, the project will unlock up to an additional 250MW of peak capacity on the existing Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector. During the peak Australian summer, the extra power flowing between the states will provide critical support to the grid. According to independent analysis by PWC, the SIPS process could deliver total benefits of more than $220 million to Victorian consumers in the next eleven years, including savings on power bills.
Earlier this year, Neoen has also initiated the planning process for a 500 MW/1,000 MWh battery storage project in New South Wales. The project will be located around 100 km west of Sydney, near the site of the former Wallerawang coal-fired power station. The project, referred to as the ‘Great Western Battery’, would form a major part of an evolving New South Wales energy grid.