State-owned energy company Synergy has completed construction of its 200MW/800MWh Kwinana battery energy storage system (BESS) 2 in Western Australia.
The AU$661 million (US$428 million) Kwinana BESS 2 comprises 288 shipping container-sized battery modules and 72 inverter units. Construction started in July 2023, and now that it is complete, the project is expected to be switched on before Christmas 2024.
The lithium-ion phosphate (LFP) battery will be connected to the South West Interconnected System (SWIS), which links urban areas such as Albany, Bunbry, Perth, Merredin, Kalgoorlie, and Geraldton in Western Australia.
Kwinana is situated adjacent to the first Kwinana BESS 1, a 100MW/200MWh 2-hour duration system, at the existing gas-fired Kwinana Power Station.
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Western Australia premier Roger Cook mentioned the importance of energy storage capacity in attaining the state’s renewable energy goals.
“Our clean energy plan is setting up Western Australia for the future and locking in affordable and reliable energy for every Western Australian. The Kwinana big batteries will play a vital role in keeping our energy system reliable and stable, allowing us to bring on more renewable energy and sensibly phase out coal by 2030,” Cook said.
Western Australia has established ambitious targets for the state’s energy transition, with energy storage at the core of this. Earlier this year, our sister site PV Tech reported that the state government had signed a Renewable Energy Transformation Agreement with the Federal government, with eyes to deploy a minimum of 6.5TWh of new wind and solar projects and 1.1GW of new energy storage.
Alongside the Kwinana BESS projects, Western Australia is also home to Neoen’s 500MW/2,000MWh Collie battery, which is regarded as one of the largest in Australia. Origin Energy’s Eraring site is the largest BESS in Australia, and an expansion plan was recently released to bring the capacity to 2,800MWh.
The Collie BESS first entered construction in March 2024, and the first stage was completed at the end of October. Neoen confirmed that the second stage of the Collie BESS, which will see a further 341MW/1,363MWh installed and connected to the grid, is currently under construction and expected to be completed in 2025.
