Waratah Super Battery online

The first 350MW (700MWh) of the Waratah Super Battery is online in New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

Commissioned by the New South Wales Government and delivered and operated by Akaysha Energy, the Waratah Super Battery is currently performing its role as a ‘shock absorber’ for the NSW electricity grid in case of events like heatwaves, lightning strikes and bush fires.

With a physical size of 850MW/1,680MWh, when fully operational later this year, the battery will reportedly provide a guaranteed continuous active power capacity of at least 700MW and a guaranteed usable energy storage capacity of at least 1,400MWh.

The Waratah Super Battery reportedly takes two hours to charge and can discharge its full power capacity into the grid in a matter of seconds.

The primary role of the Waratah Super Battery is to supply the NSW electricity grid during emergency events. However, it’s also a control system that includes arrangements for paired generation services and upgrades to existing power lines.

Located at the former Munmorah coal-fired power station, about 100km north of Sydney, the Waratah Super Battery Project has four distinct components:

• A System Integrity Protection Scheme (SIPS) service to provide its guaranteed, continuous active power capacity.
• Paired generation services provided by a portfolio of generators across NSW that will provide technical services to support the SIPS.
• A SIPS communications system comprising of a software system and signalling equipment, operated by TransGrid in its role as the network operator. The system will detect contingencies and faults across the network and rapidly signal paired generators to decrease output and the battery to discharge, supplying power to customers.
• Network augmentations delivered by TransGrid include updates to existing transmission lines and upgrading a series of substations that are required to increase the network’s capacity and allow for the operation of the SIPS.

The oversising of the battery allows for degradation of the battery over time, reportedly ensuring security of supply.

It also reportedly enables Akaysha Energy to utilise the excess capacity to tap into additional revenue streams, putting downward pressure on the costs of the SIPS service provided to NSW customers.