Energy generator and retailer EnergyAustralia will control and operate two large-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) in a portfolio in development by Edify Energy. 

Renewable energy and energy storage developer Edify is currently working on the three-system portfolio in New South Wales, Australia, which totals 150MW/300MWh of BESS to be connected to a substation at Darlington Point in New South Wales’ Murrumbidgee Shire. 

As reported by Energy-Storage.news last month, Edify Energy has contracted Tesla as the supplier of BESS equipment for the 60MW/120MWh Riverina Energy Storage System 1, 65MW/130MWh Riverina Energy Storage System 2 and 25MW/50MWh Darlington Point Energy Storage System projects.

This morning, EnergyAustralia said it is partnering with the developer for two long-term services agreements totalling 90MW/180MWh: for Riverina Energy Storage System 2 and Darlington Point Energy Storage System, both due for completion in the 2023-2024 summer period. 

Construction is expected to begin later this year. 

EnergyAustralia will control both systems in their market-facing activities as they participate in the National Electricity Market (NEM). Back in May 2021, Shell Energy signed a long-term services agreement for Riverina Energy Storage System 1. 

EnergyAustralia and Edify previously worked together on one of Australia’s first grid-scale BESS projects, at Gannawarra solar farm in Victoria, which was retrofitted with batteries, again supplied by Tesla. That went into operation in 2018 and reports produced a year later showed it had been a success. 

Elsewhere in the country, EnergyAustralia plans to build a 350MW, four-hour duration (1,400MWh) standalone BESS at the site of Yallourn, a coal-fired power plant which is scheduled to be retired for retirement during this decade.