Australia’s national Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has said it will commit AU$50 million (US$34.14 million) to help fund expansion of landmark Hornsdale battery project in South Australia.

The capabilities of virtual power plants (VPPs) to provide capacity as well as frequency regulation services to the grid in Australia will be demonstrated through a new integration trial.

Fluence will supply the latest large-scale battery energy storage system set to be deployed in South Australia, which has secured non-subsidised debt financing.

While headlines about energy storage in Australia have been dominated by news of batteries in large-scale utility projects and the residential sector, the country’s government and renewable energy agency have identified numerous possibilities for developing pumped hydro storage assets.

One of Australia’s energy market regulators has put out a lengthy document detailing the potential impact of introducing five minute settlement into the electricity spot market, which would likely favour flexible resources such as energy storage.