The Australian government’s start of competitive tenders for dispatchable renewable energy capacity backed with energy storage is an unprecedented step for national energy policy.

Three large-scale battery storage projects and one virtual power plant were the winners of a recent competitive tender held on behalf of the government of New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

Work is set to begin “within weeks” on a BESS project at the site of a coal power plant in New South Wales, Australia.

New South Wales is tendering for firming resources that can dispatch energy to the grid for two hours or more.

Technology providers Fluence and Wartsila have been chosen through a competitive solicitation process to supply up to 1,000MW of grid-scale battery energy storage to Australian energy generation and retail company AGL.