The government of Victoria, Australia is making a major push towards renewable energy, and as a result, the region will soon be home to the largest battery in the southern hemisphere.
Now, as reported by ABC, renewable energy company Neoen will pay for a 300 megawatt Tesla battery, which will ultimately be installed at Moorabool, near Geelong. The battery, at twice the size of the Hornsdale Power Reserve Battery in South Australia, will supposedly have enough energy to power half a million homes for one hour.
While the new battery’s 450 megawatt-hour capacity will dole out a hefty punch of power, its main purpose will be to feed power back into the grid to stabilize the system during blackouts.
Victoria to house largest battery in southern hemisphere https://t.co/Z9NFejElyl
— ABC News (@abcnews) November 5, 2020
Lily D’Ambrosio, Victoria’s State Energy Minister, claimed the battery would sustain reliability of the energy grid through increasingly hot summers, while also driving down electric prices.
Ambrosio said, “We know in the time of climate change, our summers are getting far hotter and much longer, so that means there is increased strain on our thermal generators.” she continued, “This is part of our plan to deliver security, reliability and affordable power.”
The state has also signed an $84 million contract with Neoen for the project. While D’Ambrosio didn’t specify how much Australians would save on their utility prices, the news is an exciting development in the country’s growing infrastructure of clean energy.
