Progress has been made on the development of the first 100 per cent publicly owned renewable energy project in Australia, with the successful contractor announced for the delivery of a 100-megawatt, two-hour battery energy storage system component in Victoria.
Energy Vault will deliver the system for the SEC Renewable Energy Park, with the battery to store energy from the project’s 119-megawatt solar farm which can generate around 242,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy a year – enough to power 51,000 homes.
The battery will soak up cheap solar while the sun is shining and deploy it later in the day to push down electricity prices. The battery storage will also allow more renewable generation to come online by storing power until it’s ready to be fed into the grid during high demand.
The battery also enables an additional 180 megawatts of new renewables to be connected to the grid.
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Once operational, all profits made by the SEC will be reinvested back into renewable energy projects – growing the state’s battery storage, wind and solar farms – and putting power back in the hands of Victorians.
Minister for the State Electricity Commission Lily D’Ambrosio said the State Government was excited to partner with Energy Vault to deliver the project.
“Building more renewable energy will make sure Victoria can continue to have the lowest wholesale energy prices in the market, push down energy bills and create good local jobs,” D’Ambrosio said.
Preconstruction work is already underway at the site in Horsham, with the project on track to for completion in 2027.
