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A new grid-scale battery powered by Tesla Megapacks is now officially online in Queensland, Australia, marking another major milestone for the company’s fast-growing energy storage business.
As first reported by Energy-Storage.News, publicly owned energy company CleanCo Queensland has opened the Swanbank Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), a 250 MW/500 MWh facility located at the former Swanbank coal power station site in Ipswich — roughly 45 kilometers southwest of Brisbane.
The $330 million AUD (about $233 million USD) project repurposes retired coal-fired infrastructure into a modern clean energy hub. The 2-hour duration battery connects to the grid through a new 275 kV substation, leveraging existing transmission infrastructure that once served the coal plant, allowing for faster and more cost-effective integration into Australia’s National Electricity Market.
Queensland Treasurer and Minister for Energy David Janetzki called the project a key piece of the state’s evolving energy roadmap.
“This grid-scale battery is exactly the kind of modern infrastructure our Energy Roadmap is designed to deliver—technology that keeps the lights on, supports renewables, and strengthens reliability for Queenslanders,” Janetzki said. “At Swanbank, we can see how batteries and gas generation work together to support system reliability, particularly during peak demand periods.”
CleanCo CEO Tom Metcalfe added that the project represents a significant shift for the historic site. “The Swanbank Battery is a critical addition to CleanCo’s portfolio, providing greater flexibility to supply reliable, lower-emissions energy to our customers when it’s needed most,” said Metcalfe. “This project reflects the continued evolution of the Swanbank site, from coal to gas-fired stations and now battery storage.”
Tesla’s Megapack is its flagship utility-grade energy storage solution, designed specifically for grid-scale applications. Each unit can store roughly 4 MWh of energy and dispatch it when needed, helping utilities stabilize demand and integrate renewable sources like wind and solar. Megapack installations have become increasingly common across North America and Australia, and this new project follows the recent commissioning of a massive 1.6 GWh Tesla-powered battery in the country just last week.
Tesla also unveiled Megapack 3 and its modular Megablock system last year, with the next-generation hardware promising faster deployment and improved efficiency. With projects like Swanbank coming online — and more already in the pipeline — Tesla’s energy division continues to quietly scale into one of the company’s most strategically important businesses.
