{"id":437819,"date":"2026-05-21T05:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T05:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/437819\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T05:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T05:05:09","slug":"contact-energy-opens-151m-glenbrook-grid-battery-to-boost-winter-energy-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/437819\/","title":{"rendered":"Contact Energy opens $151m Glenbrook grid battery to boost winter energy security"},"content":{"rendered":"\u201cThis is more than new infrastructure; it represents a shift in how we power New Zealand\u2019s future,\u201d Fuge said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we move towards a highly renewable system, flexibility from assets like this battery support energy security when the sun doesn\u2019t shine and the wind doesn\u2019t blow.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt also reduces exposure to global energy shocks and builds a more independent energy system for New Zealand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The battery stores largely renewable energy when demand is low and supplies it back to the grid when demand is high.<\/p>\n
Contact is also working on Glenbrook Ohurua Battery two; a 200MW project alongside the first battery, representing a further $235m investment.<\/p>\n
Together, the batteries will provide up to 300MW of capacity, enough to power the equivalent of 132,000 homes for up to two hours during peak demand.<\/p>\n
Jamie Gray is an Auckland-based journalist, covering the financial markets, the primary sector and energy. He joined the Herald in 2011.<\/p>\n
Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThis is more than new infrastructure; it represents a shift in how we power New Zealand\u2019s future,\u201d Fuge…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[90209,223884,51,6081,11231,138,16579,4190,1667,23373,1888,182818,55281,223885,6800,11551,111,139,69,59966,1864,2680,13028,10112,312,2437,1240,61,5977,1533,23644],"class_list":["post-437819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-90209","tag-151m","tag-auckland","tag-battery","tag-boost","tag-business","tag-contact","tag-demand","tag-energy","tag-equivalent","tag-first","tag-glenbrook","tag-grid","tag-gridscale","tag-homes","tag-hours","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-officially","tag-opened","tag-opens","tag-peak","tag-power","tag-says","tag-security","tag-south","tag-to","tag-which","tag-will","tag-winter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}