Large-scale solar farm developer Maoneng Energy said it is expanding its battery energy storage portfolio in Australia, after signing a deal for 400MWh of projects with major utility company AGL.

Australia’s biggest utility AGL, which has committed to phasing out coal by 2050, has said it is likely to replace the capacity provided by one ageing power station with batteries, peaking plants, demand response and pumped hydro.

AGL has commissioned the first phase of what it claims is the world’s largest virtual power plant (VPP).

Behind-the-meter storage is forecast to become a larger segment than grid-scale storage by 2021, and could pose a potential threat to utilities, according to Bloomberg Energy Finance (BNEF) senior analyst Logan Goldie-Scot.

Australian power company AGL is to install the largest ‘virtual power plant’ in the world in Adelaide, South Australia, using batteries from energy storage firm Sunverge Energy.

The rapid march of energy storage batteries into the energy system is one element of a wider market transformation that is “terrifying some players as much as it is thrilling others,” according to the new chair of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) Martijn Wilder.