Australia – Finnish Wärtsilä and Australian AGL Energy Limited have completed construction on the Torrens Island Grid Scale battery energy storage system (ESS).
The second-largest operational battery in Australia is the 250 MW/250 MWh ESS erected at Torrens Island in South Australia.
The project makes a significant contribution to Australia’s future in renewable energy and advances the country’s decarbonization objectives. By balancing the supply of energy from renewable sources, Wärtsilä’s cutting-edge ESS preserves the grid’s stability and dependability. With the potential to be expanded to four hours in the future, the ESS will be able to power roughly 75,000 houses in South Australia for one hour.
Ground-breaking feature
A grid-following mode will be used by the Torrens Island system initially, with a grid-forming mode (virtual synchronous generation, or VSG) switching over later. Fast response times and operations that are future-proofed for the Torrens Island facility are made possible by this ground-breaking feature, which makes it the largest energy storage solution capable of operating in VSG mode. The sophisticated GEMS Power Plant Controller from Wärtsilä provides assistance for the solution.
Decarbonization
The Torrens Island ESS is the most recent project Wärtsilä has undertaken to assist Australia’s decarbonization objectives. The Barker Inlet Power Station, also on Torrens Island, was a 211 MW balancing power station that Wärtsilä previously provided to AGL. Additionally, the business is supplying a 460 MW battery to the Eraring Power Station in collaboration with Origin to improve New South Wales’s energy security and dependability.
