Electricity generator and retailer AGL has short listed two major global energy storage companies — Wartsila and Fluence — to supply battery system at a South Australian power station.
The Australian energy utility announced Wartsila and Fluence will supply up to 1000MW of grid-scale battery storage in Australia.
AGL unveiled plans in November to roll-out 850MW of energy storage capacity across the National Energy Market (NEM) by mid-2024.
The plan includes large battery storage systems adjacent to its power plants in South Australia, Victoria and NSW with the 250MW Torrens Island system in South Australia set to be the largest.
Other systems are planned at Loy Yang A power station in Victoria (200MW), Liddell power station (150MW) and Broken Hill (50MW) in NSW.
Wartsila is a Finnish company with almost 20,000 employees worldwide and an Australian subsidiary based in Sydney.
Fluence is headquartered in the US and is owned by industry powerhouses Siemens and AES.
AGL chief operating officer Markus Brokhof said the company selected Wartsila and Fluence through a competitive tender process for their capability, experience and pricing.
AGL is committed to build 850MW of grid-scale battery storage by FY2024.
“We are already well advanced with our planning process and these framework agreements will reduce tender timeframes for individual projects, enabling faster project schedules and commercial operation,” Markus Brokhof said.
South Australia leads the nation in the uptake of wind energy and rooftop solar with renewable sources accounting for more than 50 per cent of the electricity generated in the state.