Neoen's 150-MW South Australian battery cleared to provide inertia services

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has approved Neoen's 150 MW/193.5 MWh Hornsdale Power Reserve battery storage system in South Australia to provide inertia services to the National Electricity Market, France-based renewables and energy storage company Neoen said July 27.

The closure of coal and gas plants and increasing volume of renewables have resulted in inertia shortfalls in the grid, a serious network issue that batteries can help overcome.

Australia still has over 50% coal/lignite in its generation mix, but this is down from 80% in 2000, while renewables' share has climbed to 24% nationally, and to 64% in South Australia.

"The arrival of this capability paves the way for AEMO's stated vision of 100% instantaneous renewable penetration by 2025," Neoen said.

Grid-scale provision of inertia from the battery had been enabled by Tesla's Virtual Machine Mode technology, and came after two years of trials involving Neoen, Tesla, AEMO and ElectraNet, supported by the South Australian Government, ARENA and CEFC.

"Located in a critical part of the network, Hornsdale Power Reserve will automatically provide the necessary stability to the South Australian grid," Neoen said.

The battery is big enough to contribute 2,000 MW of equivalent inertia or 15% of the predicted shortfall in the state's network, which serves over 1.7 million people and 150,000 businesses.