The first batteries have been installed at state-owned Synergy’s 500MW/2,000MWh Collie battery energy storage system (BESS) in Western Australia.
In an update made today (8 October), the first 80 units have been installed as part of the wider 4-hour duration BESS, which will include 640 units when fully complete. CATL, a China-headquartered battery manufacturer, is providing its EnerC containerised lithium iron phosphate (LFP) BESS solution to the Collie project.
Synergy previously said that the Collie BESS project could be expanded to 1,000MW/4,000MWh if market forces make that viable. Construction started on the BESS in March 2024 and it is hoped it will connect to the grid in 2025.
Located at the site of Collie Power Station, a coal-fired power plant scheduled for decommissioning in 2027, the battery storage project is one of two being funded with AU$2.3 billion (US$1.52 billion) from the Western Australia State Budget 2023-2024. The project, which will cost around AU$1.6 billion to construct fully, received planning approval from the Western Australian government for the BESS in December 2023.
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Western Australia’s premier, Roger Cook, said the BESS will keep Collie at the “heart of the state’s energy system”.
“The Collie battery will be one of the biggest in Australia, and means we can deliver clean, affordable and reliable energy for Western Australia for decades to come,” Cook added.
At the end of November 2023, the state’s Regional Joint Development Assessment Panel (JDAP) recommended that the project application be approved subject to conditions, finding that it was consistent with the objectives of local land zoning.
The Collie site was identified as an ideal spot to host large-scale battery storage due to its existing transmission network infrastructure and local workforce with relevant electrical industry skills.
Alongside Collie, construction began in mid-2023 on Kwinana 2, a 200MW/800MWh BESS project that will complement Kwinana 1 (100MW/400MWh), completed in May 2022. Synergy owns both.
Collie and Kwinana 1 and 2 form part of the government’s commitment to increasing the amount of storage available when variable renewable energy (VRE) sources, like solar PV and wind, aren’t generating and to manage peak loads and congestion on the grid.
Western Australia’s energy minister, Reece Whitby emphasised the support the Collie BESS will grant the state in supporting the uptake of variable renewable energy technologies, such as solar PV.
“We know large-scale storage is important in our State because it supports household investment in rooftop solar and will allow us to continue our phased and sensible plan to transition out of coal by 2030,” Whitby said.
“By installing these containerised battery systems in Collie, Synergy is one step closer to securing a cleaner energy mix that can provide power to the system when it’s most needed.”
