The latest utility scale battery additions to Western Australia’s main grid (the WEM) take total capacity to 1,385 megawatts (MW) and 5,367 megawatt hours (MWh).
It means that on the WEM, the daily battery dispatch now exceeds the daily utility scale solar contribution.
Based on the last 7 day data for W.A. grid, which is the world’s biggest isolated grid with no connections to other states or countries, battery penetration is now frequently well over 20 per cent of the evening peak dispatch
The dispatch from the big batteries, which includes the country’s two biggest – Neoen’s 560 MW, 2,240 MWh Collie battery, and Synergy’s nearly fully commissioned 500 MW, 2000 MWh battery in the same city – is targeting periods of low rooftop solar energy generation, which coincides with peak demand.
Renewable energy on W.A,’s WEM now almost always exceeds minimum of 20% penetration, and has hit 80% or more every day – and underscores the fact that W.A. needs at least 3 times more wind to deliver the bulk power needed for night-time demand.
The graph above illustrate the dominance of rooftop solar (yellow) in the middle of the day, and the charging of big batteries at the same time (pink colour below the line). Battery dispatch (in red) can be seen in the evening peaks and in the morning peaks.
Note: The total capacity of battery storage excludes the Cunderdin solar farm’s 55MW/220 MWh hybrid battery as this facility is classified by AEMO as a solar farm.
See also: The solar farm that winds down at dusk, charges up for dinner and is still generating at midnight
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