{"id":831670,"date":"2026-07-29T17:00:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T17:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/831670\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T17:00:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T17:00:19","slug":"elon-musk-helps-bolster-sas-national-renewables-lead-with-big-battery-expansion-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/831670\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk helps bolster SA&#8217;s national renewables lead with big battery expansion &#8211; News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">With more than 75 per cent of South Australia\u2019s energy generation coming from renewables, according to the Department of Energy and Mining, the state is the national leader in the space.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">Now, a big battery expansion project is set to add more storage capacity into the energy network, to be developed by the largest battery owner and operator in Australia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">South Australian electricity generation from renewables has risen from one per cent in 2007 to more than 75 per cent in 2025, government data shows.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">Wind energy made up 45 per cent of the state\u2019s electricity in 2024\/25, while solar panels made up 32 per cent. Gas remains a key contributor to the energy mix during peak usage periods and when renewables are unavailable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">The state leads the country and the world in the integration of wind and solar, and has the highest levels of rooftop solar (one in two houses).<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">Adelaide is also home to Australia\u2019s only solar panel manufacturing business: Tindo Solar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">SA is hoping to achieve 100 per cent net renewable electricity by 2027 by commissioning new wind and solar projects, battery storage projects and the development of a two-way electricity flow between New South Wales and SA.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-332699\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Electricity_20generation_20-_20fuel_20mix_20calendar_20year_202025_0.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"893\" height=\"595\"  \/>South Australia leads the nation in sourcing electricity from renewables. Source: Australian Government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">Big batteries are supporting the state\u2019s Net Zero target, and in November last year at one point, 40 per cent of electricity being used by SA customers was coming from a battery at the peak of consumption when rooftop solar was at zero. This included home batteries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">More than 11 per cent of homes are now equipped with their own home batteries according to January statistics from SA Power Networks, and the state\u2019s large-scale batteries can deliver around 1.7GW of power and close to 5 GWh of storage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">Battery storage in SA has been expanding since 2017 when French company Neoen was awarded a contract to build a giant battery with Tesla technology, South Australian Minister for Energy and Mining Tom Koutsantonis saying it was a \u201ctemplate that is now being adopted internationally\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">\u201cSouth Australia\u2019s renewable energy output today is more than 12 times what it was 18 years ago, and investment in operational large-scale renewable energy generation and storage projects in \u00a0South Australia now totals more than $6.4 billion, with more than $19 billion of projects under construction or with development approval,\u201d Koutsantonis told\u00a0InDaily.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">\u201cThese are big investments that speak to great confidence in South Australia\u2019s energy future and make a huge contribution to the state\u2019s economy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Big battery expansion<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">Against this backdrop, one of the world\u2019s leading renewable energy companies, Neoen, has today revealed plans to double the size of one of its batteries in SA\u2019s Mid North.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">Its Goyder Battery, sited northeast of Robertstown, is part of a larger project called the Goyder Renewables Zone, which includes solar, wind and battery storage developments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">Neoen is at the helm of the project and is working with US billionaire Elon Musk\u2019s Tesla and Australian engineering group UGL to construct the big battery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">The company \u2013 based in France \u2013 was awarded two 15-year contracts under the SA Government\u2019s Firm Energy Reliability Mechanism tender to double the size of the Goyder Battery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">Plans anticipate the battery would be built over two stages, and the company must ensure the facility can dispatch energy continuously for eight hours when required.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">Energy and Mining Minister Tom Koutsantonis said the battery would add resilience to the broader state electricity network.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">\u201cSouth Australia\u2019s Firm Energy Reliability Mechanism is fast-tracking private investment in large-scale battery energy storage systems that will collectively more than double our state\u2019s battery storage capability,\u201d Koutsantonis said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">\u201cThat will significantly bolster the resilience of South Australia\u2019s energy system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">\u201cImportantly, they will remove volatility in the system, helping keep downward pressure on wholesale prices.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">The Goyder Battery would connect to ElectraNet\u2019s Bundey substation, with site works to commence in August 2027.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">Neoen said it expected the battery would be operational in 2028 and hoped 150 jobs at peak construction would be created while 12 permanent roles would come online during operations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">Neoen regional CEO for Asia Pacific Jean-Christophe Cheylus thanked the state government for \u201cplacing their trust in us\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">\u201cThe launch of the second stage of Goyder Battery, just six months after the first, highlights the pace at which battery storage is becoming critical to Australia\u2019s clean energy future,\u201d Cheylus said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">\u201cThis is our 12th battery with Tesla in Australia, taking our combined capacity beyond 2 GW and our 9thproject with UGL.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 font-serif text-lg sm:text-lg group-[.is-premiumproperty]:font-sans\">\u201cWe are very proud of the role we continue to play in the state\u2019s rapid transition to renewables.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With more than 75 per cent of South Australia\u2019s energy generation coming from renewables, according to the Department&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":831671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-831670","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\/831670","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=831670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/831671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=831670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=831670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=831670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}