Joint media release: Delivering cleaner, cheaper reliable energy to Victoria and SA

The Hon Chris Bowen MP, Minister for Climate Change and Energy

The Hon Lily D'Ambrosio MP, Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources

The Hon Tom Koutsantonis MP, South Australian Minister for Energy and Mining

The Albanese Government’s reliable renewable plan is backing six large-scale batteries for Victoria and South Australia that will deliver enough clean, cheap and reliable renewable energy to power one million homes from 2027.

The batteries selected for federal funding support can run for up to four hours, delivering a reliable flow of clean energy whenever needed, including by storing cheap, plentiful, rooftop and large-scale solar power generated during daylight hours.

The selected projects are being announced after a hugely successful pilot tender for dispatchable capacity across the two states that received more than 100 bids.

Many of the unsuccessful bids were also of high quality, and will be given feedback and encouraged to rebid in the next tender for the National Electricity Market, scheduled for the end of the year.

The projects are being underwritten as part of the Albanese Government’s reliable renewables plan by the Capacity Investment Scheme that is vital to ensuring affordable and reliable energy as ageing and increasingly unreliable coal plants retire, while transforming Australia’s energy system to a reliable 82 per cent renewable grid, supported by gas, storage and transmission.

The projects are:

• The Wooreen 350 MW energy storage system operated by EnergyAustralia in the Latrobe Valley on the existing site of the Jeeralang Power Station at Hazelwood North
• The Springvale Energy Hub 115 MW battery energy storage system to be developed by Progress Power on the site of a former landfill in south-eastern Melbourne
• The Limestone Coast West 250 MW lithium-ion battery storage operated by Pacific Green near Mount Gambier
• The Solar River battery storage system, part of a hybrid project of 256 MW, operated by Zen Energy, located north of Adelaide between Burra and Morgan
• The Clements Gap 60 MW battery energy storage system, operated by Pacific Blue, at the Clements Gap Wind Farm, in South Australia’s mid-north
• The Hallett 50 MW battery energy storage system owned by Energy Australia, in Canowie, 210 km north of Adelaide

Throughout the process, the government has been very clear that there is an expectation of proponents contributing positively to their local communities, local supply chains, local jobs, and First Nations peoples.

The six successful projects in this tender have committed a total investment of $12.5 million of shared benefits to local project communities and $6.5 million of initiatives for local First Nations groups, as well as extensive use of local supply chains.  

In May this year, the Albanese Government opened the national tender to bring on an additional 6 gigawatts of renewable generation and batteries into the east-coast grid.

Like the South Australian and Victorian tender, the first national auction for electricity generation was massively oversubscribed, attracting 40 GW worth of registrations. This is enough to power more than 21.5 million homes – twice the number of households in Australia.

Only the Albanese Government has a plan for the energy system to deliver affordable and reliable energy for Australia households and businesses backed by the experts.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen:

“The Albanese Government is making sure when Victorian and South Australians hit the light switch, they have access to the cheapest, reliable renewable power, when and where they want it.

“In contrast Albanese Government’s reliable renewables plan, the Peter Dutton and David Littleproud want to stop renewable investment, tear up contracts for new renewable and transmission projects, and deliver expensive nuclear reactors in two decades time while ignoring the need for more investment now to ensure reliability and affordability of energy.

“Victorians and South Australians shouldn’t have to wait two decades for Peter Dutton’s anti-renewables nuclear energy fantasy.”

Quotes attributable to Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources, Lily D’Ambrosio:

“Victoria is the home of big batteries and this investment from the Commonwealth for additional storage projects in Gippsland and south-east Melbourne will help accelerate the build of renewable energy storage across our state.

“Energy storage capacity is critical to keeping power prices down by storing cheap renewable energy when it’s abundant and dispatching back into the grid when it’s needed most.

“More renewable energy and storage capacity is critical to meeting our target of 95 per cent renewables by 2035 and energy storage targets of at least 2.6 gigawatts by 2030 and 6.3 gigawatts by 2035.”

Quotes attributable to South Australian Minister for Energy and Mining, Tom Koutsantonis:

“It was a South Australian Labor Government that was at the forefront of bringing grid-scale batteries into the electricity system.

“This template is now being keenly taken up around the world with the recognition that renewable energy, when firmed with batteries, can provide greater reliability and flexibility than once thought possible.

“The system we pioneered continues to set records and break barriers. We are seeing batteries proposed that may have substantially larger storage capacity, longer duration, or both.

“Our state already boasts more than 75 per cent of its energy coming from renewable sources, and we’ve brought forward our target to boost that to a net 100 per cent by 2027.”