Victoria has reached a significant renewable energy milestone this week with the delivery of 100 Tesla Megapacks to the Koorangie Energy Storage System near Kerang.
The $480 million energy storage project, part of the government’s Renewable Energy Zone Fund, will provide critical energy storage capacity and allow up to 300 additional megawatts of renewable energy to be integrated into the Murray River region’s grid.
The large-scale rechargeable lithium-ion batteries will have a combined storage capacity of 185 megawatts once operational in 2025.
With a single full charge, the Koorangie system will be capable of powering every home in the Gannawarra Shire Council area for over two weeks or the entire town of Kerang for more than a month.
“Koorangie is a cutting-edge facility that will help Victoria hit our energy storage targets and support our transition to renewable energy by providing stability to our energy grid regional Victoria,” Lily D’Ambrosio, Victoria’s Energy Minister said.
“Projects like Koorangie are keeping the lights on for households across the state and are helping us move away from expensive fossil fuels and onto safer, affordable and more reliable renewable energy.”
Importantly, the project will employ cutting-edge “grid forming” inverter technology, allowing the battery system to provide the same grid stabilisation services historically provided by fossil fuel generators. This reduces reliance on aging coal-fired power plants.
The Koorangie facility is one of 12 projects funded through the Renewable Energy Zone Fund, an initiative to strengthen and modernise Victoria’s energy grid. The state has legislated targets of at least 2.6 gigawatts (GW) of energy storage by 2030 and 6.3GW by 2035.
The Koorangie system is being delivered by Edify Energy and Sosteneo on behalf of the government and the Australian Energy Market Operator.
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