Optimiser Habitat Energy has secured a deal with energy storage developer Eku Energy to optimise its 250MW/500MWh Williamsdale battery energy storage system (BESS) in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
The BESS recently entered construction and is being built to the south of Canberra. Habitat will utilise its integrated service by harnessing the power of AI-powered algorithmic forecasting.
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Via this deal, Habitat said it now has around 2.8GW of assets under contract worldwide, some of which are situated in the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market in the US, where the company claims to be one of the largest BESS optimisers.
The Williamsdale BESS, set to be operational in 2026, will operate in grid-forming mode and provide system strength services and fast-acting frequency control ancillary services (FCAS). Through trading in the National Electricity Market (NEM), Eku Energy will receive fixed quarterly payments from the Territory over a period of 15 years.
A unique aspect of the BESS is that the developer secured a revenue swap arrangement with the ACT government, meaning the Territory will receive a share of revenue secured from participation in the NEM.
Greg Billman, managing director of Habitat Energy Australia, commented on Eku Energy’s financing approach to developing the Williamsdale BESS.
“Eku’s specialist expertise in battery storage development is evident in their innovative financing approach and we look forward to working together to deliver the battery’s full revenue potential across wholesale energy and ancillary service markets.”
It is worth noting that the Williamsdale BESS is ACT’s largest energy storage project in development. Developer Neoen is also working through the commissioning process of its 100MW/200MWh Capital Battery project in the region.
Habitat Energy is part of Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners and is active in the UK, Australia and US. Co-founder and director Ben Irons talked to Energy-Storage.news about the challenges facing optimisation firms like it in an interview last year (Premium access).
Williamsdale to utilise Tesla Megapacks
As previously reported by Energy-Storage.news, the Williamsdale BESS will use Tesla Megapack units, a solution being deployed at several utility-scale BESS projects in Australia, such as the 1,600MWh Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub in Victoria and the state-owned 1,200MWh Stanwell BESS in Queensland.
The successes of Tesla’s energy storage division earned praise from its CEO and the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, who claimed in late October that “It won’t be long” before Tesla’s stationary energy storage business is shipping 100GWh a year.
Tesla was recently revealed to be the only AAA-rated BESS supplier in the global market in the Battery StorageTech Bankability Report published by our colleagues at PV Tech Research.
