{"id":772056,"date":"2026-07-01T12:33:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/772056\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T12:33:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:33:11","slug":"new-big-battery-begins-operations-in-state-stung-by-worst-wind-drought-in-seven-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/772056\/","title":{"rendered":"New big battery begins operations in state stung by\u00a0worst wind \u201cdrought\u201d in seven years"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new big battery has swung into full commercial operations in South Australia, the state whose grid last week swung from three days of more than 100 per cent renewables to its worst wind drought in seven years.<\/p>\n

London based renewables outfit Revera Energy announced on Tuesday that the first 150 megawatt (MW) and 300 megawatt-hours (MWh) stage of its Bungama battery energy storage system (BESS) near Port Pirie had commenced commercial operations.<\/p>\n

The battery system was supplied by global technology group W\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 which will also carry out the long-term service of the battery, while Revera will be responsible for management of the asset. Enerven was the balance of plant contractor.<\/p>\n

At just two hours of energy storage duration, the Bungama BESS will not answer the immediate problem South Australia faced over the four days from\u00a0Sunday to Wednesday last week as wind experienced what analysts like Watt Clarity have called the state\u2019s worst four-day wind drought in seven years.<\/p>\n

As Renew Economy has reported<\/a>, the dunkelflaute underscored South Australia\u2019s need for longer-duration battery storage of between four and eight hours. In it\u2019s current fleet of nine \u2013 or now 10 \u2013 operating big batteries, none deliver more than two hours of storage.<\/p>\n

Happily, a second stage of the Bungama BESS is planned, which will increase the site\u2019s battery storage and capacity to 250 MW\/700 MWh \u2013 extending its storage duration further. An additional third stage is also planned, which will see the construction of a 280 MW solar farm.<\/p>\n

The BESS is integrated into the National Electricity Market through a 275kV connection to ElectraNet\u2019s Bungama Substation, helping to increase the reliability and stability of the state\u2019s electricity network.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Image Credit: Enerven<\/p>\n

The first stage of the Bungama BESS was officially launched on Tuesday with a ribbon cutting ceremony with project partners and stakeholders, as well as South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas.<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Australia\u2019s world-leading renewable energy reputation continues to attract significant investment into the state, especially in our regions,\u201d said Malinauskas.<\/p>\n

\u201cProjects like Bungama BESS not only create highly skilled jobs, they demonstrate our global standing as a leader in decarbonisation. Carlyle-backed Revera Energy joins a growing list of strategic investors committed to South Australia\u2019s multi-billion-dollar pipeline of projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you would like to join more than 29,000 others and get the latest clean energy news delivered straight to your inbox, for free, please\u00a0click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy<\/a> and The Driven<\/a> since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new big battery has swung into full commercial operations in South Australia, the state whose grid last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":772057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-772056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}