Neoen , the French renewable energy provider, has started construction on one of Australia’s largest batteries at Collie, a town south of Perth in Western Australia.
Nathan Ling, Head of Neoen’s WA operations, said that the project would be built in stages and would eventually have a 1 GW capacity and duration of four hours. The first will have a capacity of 219 MW and storage of 877 MWh. The first stage is scheduled to come online by the end of 2024. Neoen has declined to reveal the cost of the project, although previous reports suggest it will be around $2 billion.
Ling said the battery was badly needed in Western Australia and would help to fill a gap left in the market by the retirement of Collie’s ageing coal-fired generators.