Tesla will install a 50MW/64.5MWh extension on to the existing 100MW/129MWh battery added to the 314MW South Australian wind project in 2017.
Neoen said the extension will be completed in the first half of 2020, pledging further savings to consumers. The developer said the battery had saved A$50 million ($34 million) in its first year of operation, as well as provide grid resiliency.
The added storage capacity will also allow the battery to “provide inertia to the network” on a demonstration basis – a first for the Australian grid on this scale, the developer claimed.
The South Australian government is providing a grant of A$3 million ($2 million) a year over five years to support the expansion and trials.
“The expansion of Hornsdale Power Reserve is demonstrating the critical and multiple roles that batteries will play in the grid of the future,” said Neoen Australia managing director Louis de Sambucy.
