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by defrost 1091 days ago
Here (Australia) we've been using large battery parks to offset peak daytime solar into the evening peak demand periods.

eg. [1] ( $$ == AUD Australian )

    French firm Neoen will build a mega battery in Collie after winning a two-year contract to smooth out energy supply and demand in Western Australia’s south-west grid, which is under strain from soaring midday peak supply from rooftop solar and ageing coal-fired power stations.

    The battery, to be constructed from 224 Tesla “Megapacks”, can store 219 megawatts of energy for four hours during the day and discharge it back to the grid during high demand in the evening when solar generation falls.
...

    UGL, a subsidiary of Spanish-owned CIMIC, has started construction on one of four grid-scale batteries in the south-west of WA. No cost was provided for the battery.

    Synergy is commissioning a battery in Kwinana that can store 100 megawatts for two hours that was originally meant to be operating by the end of 2022.

    In the May budget, the WA government allocated $2.3 billion for two further batteries.

    Synergy will build another battery at Kwinana that can store or discharge 200 megawatts for four hours that is expected to start operating by late 2024.
The cost per megawatt isn't exactly clear in the news article - I'd have to table numbers from primary sources to declutter the journalistic filter.

South Australia is also investing in new battery parks [2] (on the back of the success of one of the earliest "city scale" battery parks globally)

[1] https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/tesla-...

[2] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-23/vanadium-flow-battery...

1 comments

> we've been using large battery parks to offset peak daytime solar

Here you're saying it's already happening. And yet your quote is: "will build, to be constructed, has started construction, will build another battery..."

And?

Let me break it down for you:

1) It's already happening - South Australia had the first city scale battery park in the world (2017) [1][2]

    The original installation in 2017 was the largest lithium-ion battery in the world at 129 MWh and 100 MW.

    It was expanded in 2020 to 194 MWh at 150 MW.

    Despite the expansion, it lost that title in August 2020 to the Gateway Energy Storage in California, USA.

    The larger Victorian (another Australian state) Big Battery began operations in December 2021.
2) It's still happening, more battery parks are being planned, commissioned, and built.

Worthy of note: We've weathered a battery park fire which took out two battery packs [3]

The links above are specifically about the latest builds as they represent second generation experiences and pricing .. better locked in than the first gen ("never been done before") cases.

All up Australia has almost six years of real world city scale battery park usage - a good source of reference material for any others thinking of going a similar route.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornsdale_Power_Reserve

[2] https://hornsdalepowerreserve.com.au/

[3] https://www.pv-magazine-australia.com/2021/09/28/australias-...

> Let me break it down for you

It's not a breakdown. It's links and info you should've started with.

But thank you for this info.

I should have started with ??

Well, dock my pay then.

In common Australian English if I state that we have done something in the past you can either take that at face value or call me a liar.

If I then proceed to link to the current installation activity you can assume I'm talking about current activity as distinct from past activity.

If you're confused about past activity you could look to the links which refer to past battery park instalation.

You're most welcome and I'd be obliged if you'd look in a mirror and reflect on your attitude here.

> In common Australian English if I state that we have done something in the past you can either take that at face value or call me a liar.

In common internet English, the probability of any given statement being a half-truth at best asymptotically approaches zero.

> If you're confused about past activity you could look to the links which refer to past battery park instalation.

Which you didn't provide until I pointed out that all your links are about future projects

> I'd be obliged if you'd look in a mirror and reflect on your attitude here.

People giving out this advice are the people who would benefit from this advice the most