AGL Energy, Sydney, Australia, is pushing ahead with a plan for a huge battery at its Loy Yang power station in Victoria, but while the project adds to a flurry of activity in grid-scale storage, few are moving forward with construction as players grapple with changing policy and some community opposition, Afr.com reports.
The lodgement by AGL of a planning application for a four-hour, 200 megawatt battery at its Latrobe Valley, state of Victoria, Australia, generation site comes as evidence is firming that none of the many huge battery projects in NSW are likely to meet federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor’s April deadline for private commitments to dispatchable power generation in the state.
AGL is still reviewing its proposal to build battery storage at its Liddell site, in light of the NSW energy infrastructure road map legislation that introduces a new investment framework for new generation projects.
AGL’s October 2019 agreement with Chinese-Australian firm Maoneng Group to support four 50-megawatt batteries in NSW is also yet to be firmed up, while at least one of the planned batteries has run into strong community opposition. Most of the other several huge battery projects announced for NSW remain on the drawing board, including a $2.4 billion project by Morris Iemma-led CEP.Energy, which is targeting financial close only this time next year.
The activity in grid-scale batteries comes as South Australia’s Opposition Leader signalled that an ALP government in the state would go on the front foot to deepen government involvement in energy supply through a state-owned hydrogen company.
