The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced a $100 million financing round for grid-scale batteries with sophisticated inverters. Expressions of interest (EoI) will be accepted starting in February 2022 and will close on March 31, 2022. Later in 2022, selected bidders will be invited to submit a comprehensive application.
The large-scale battery storage finance programme will support energy storage facilities with a capacity of 70 MW or more that are part of the National Electricity Market or Western Australia’s wholesale electricity market. Existing grid-scale batteries that want to upgrade to enhanced inverter capability would also be eligible for assistance. The funding round will support three projects, each of which will get a maximum grant of $35 million. For the competitive funding cycle, applications will be accepted for all battery storage technologies with superior inverters.
In October 2021, New Horizons Ahead, previously known as Engie EPS was awarded a 200 MWh battery energy storage system project in Australia. According to a company statement, the project’s building phase will begin immediately at an as-yet-undisclosed location for an unnamed customer, with completion expected by the end of 2022. Furthermore, an engineering, procurement, and construction counterparty contract has already been signed at the beginning of October 2021.
