Image credit: energy-storage.news
The old idea of machinery that produces electricity providing security is on the way out, due to climate obsessions. Now it’s expensive devices such as this which merely store power that are supposed to guarantee the lights stay on, with the obvious problem that the power still has to be generated somewhere, sometime.
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Work is starting and completion is expected by mid 2025 to install the biggest energy storage battery in the southern hemisphere –– the 850 megawatt Waratah Super Battery at the former Munmorah coal-fired power station site, says Coast Community News.
NSW Treasurer and Energy Minister, Matt Kean, announced approval of the project when he visited the site last Thursday, along with Transgrid Executive General Manager of Network, Marie Jordan.
“Transgrid is on track to ensure the super battery, the System Integrity Protection Scheme and network upgrades are completed by mid 2025 in advance of Eraring power station’s earliest closure date,” Jordan said.
“Transgrid is connecting the Waratah Super Battery to the grid via its existing Munmorah substation ensuring additional energy is located near the high-growth Lake Macquarie and Central Coast regions.
“Part of project will be major upgrades to existing transmission lines and substations and we will also develop and operate a $30M System Integrity Protection Scheme to control the standby network battery’s activation when additional energy is required, ensuring it can respond almost instantly to any disruptions in the power system.”
Jordan said delivery of this critical infrastructure would also provide a secure, reliable and affordable energy supply to homes and businesses in Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong.
Full article here.
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
Huh and Hmm, just come in and fed up hearing about the great Auroral display when forecasters don’t seem to know East from West as to wher eto see it ( as far south as Ayrshire and acvross the borders…. Huh on Ssat tv. Coastal N Germany saw the RED light, oh and now even around Stonehenge, and I saw none, NONE, I tell you around the Inverness area, saw the planetary alignment etc, but NO aurora. SO these batteries… Blogging Joe tells me ‘look it’s 850 megawatt’ so? for how many seconds. Tells me NOTHING how long does it last – how much useable power ( for how long). – now old scots skool joke,that, – we’re not in China here. and anyway, Mr How Long’s cousin, When, will have to recharge it again. When may, or not, be able to only do it when there is excess power. So, if HOW LOng needs more, When may not be able to do the job in time! ….. and now O/T again ( like the greenblob) bottle recycling refunds: the items must be returned INTACT: they NEED the labels for the barcodes to be able to return your refund – so don’t strip off labels from plastic or glass bottles.
What I’m saying is there is NO JOINED UP THINKING in that green blob. just a mush in a swamp.
Renewables Now (Feb 23, 2023) says:
The New South Wales government today said it has awarded planning approval for the 909 MW/1,915 MWh Waratah Super Battery project proposed by BlackRock Real Assets’ Akaysha Energy.
The permit enables the construction and operation of the AUD-1-billion (USD 683m/EUR 643m) complex aimed to provide storage capacity of at least 700 MW/1,400 MWh and ensure that Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong have access to more energy from existing generators.
https://renewablesnow.com/news/nsw-gives-planning-nod-to-akayshas-waratah-super-battery-project-815379/
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Not many interconnector options for Australia, so batteries it is.
Posted this elsewhere a little while back, madness, batteries to charge batteries. More and more inefficiency.
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/electriccars/article-11772587/Motorway-services-40ft-SHIPPING-CONTAINERS-filled-batteries-charge-EVs.html
And doubtless the batteries that charge the batteries will be charged by diesel gensets…
I see!
It is a con, they do not say what is the size of the battery. Barry
[reply] post says ‘850 megawatt’
Does the “850 MW battery” mean that we can use 850 MW for two hours before lights go out?
why do they look like Port-a-Potties?
Can you imagine the environment issues when one of these lithium time bombs catches fire?? YIKES!
This was written: the 850 megawatt Waratah Super Battery
This does list 850 mega watt, it does not say that the capacity is 850 megawatt seconds, minutes, hours or days. Simply 850 megawatt could be a huge lot or nearly nothing. That is worse than no information, there is no clue as to how much difference it could make.
[reply] Renewables Now says: ‘at least 700 MW/1,400 MWh’
Are these super batteries super protected from foreign or domestic terrorist, are they hardened against a high powered rifle or exploding drone or lightning strike? Are they in a well protected grid that can be protected from these same threats? Are they in a grid that is so complicated that no one may even know if a grid outage is an attack or just an expected defect?
Bigger Grids, more complicated grids, more different power suppliers that are intermittent, will naturally fail with any disturbance, just like the Texas Grid in February 2021, or the great northeast, New England, total outage from a simple triggering start.
This is not Rocket Science, it is not any kind or Science or proper Engineering.
The modern equivalent of Easter Island status, monuments to stupidity, vanity and hubris.
@stpaulchuck Re: Can you imagine the environment issues when one of these lithium time bombs catches fire?? The Poop will fly! YIKES!
Ireland’s jet engines have arrived. Better than batteries at least.
Ireland’s energy crisis threatens blackouts
Back-up power generators have started to arrive in Ireland to help it keep the lights on during the next few winters.
The mobile turbines, described as “effectively jet engines”, are set to be installed in areas including Dublin and nearby County Meath.
The €350m (£308m) temporary capacity was ordered by environment minister Eamon Ryan last year as a “last resort”, after regulators flagged a looming shortfall in generation.
“This is an electricity emergency,” minister of state Ossian Smyth told its parliament in October.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/02/28/irelands-energy-crisis-threatens-blackouts/
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Oct. 2022…
Government to spend €350m on ‘jet engines’ to supply emergency electricity in the event of power outages
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/government-to-spend-350m-on-jet-engines-to-supply-emergency-electricity-in-the-event-of-power-outages-42077747.html
[…] From Tallbloke’s Talkshop […]
@oldbrew: Eamon Ryan and jet engines …. I’m getting DEF. huh, if it wasn’t a Piston engine generator, then larger ones ARE turbines, or not? Oh and for the record, those iron Herons are doing very little AGAIN today. but speak to https://stabl.com/en/ for stuff in a luckybag Great reasons to use energy storage!
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