Grid-scale energy storage solution provider, Energy Vault Holdings Inc., (Energy Vault) and Australia's leading energy producer, ACEN Australia have entered a contractual agreement for the deployment of two battery storage projects totaling 400MWh.
As per the agreement, Energy Vault will deploy a 50 MW/100 MWh and 150 MW/300 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) at ACEN Australia's 720MW New England Solar, one of the largest solar projects to participate in Australia's National Electricity Market (NEM). The construction for the two BESS projects is likely to begin in the second half of 2024 with the start of commercial operations expected in 2025 and 2026.
"ACEN Australia's New England Solar is a critical source of renewable energy for the NSW region, and we are proud to play a role in ensuring its ability to reliably provide the region with clean power in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible," said Robert Piconi, Chairman and CEO of Energy Vault.
We see today's agreement as just the first step in a long and fruitful relationship with ACEN and their renewable power generation projects moving forward."
The new BESS deployments have been designed to dispatch stored renewable energy at peak consumption hours to meet the high demand during New South Wales' peak load hours --reducing the region's reliance on coal-fired power generation.
"Energy Vault was selected for these projects due to their impressive track record and we are thrilled to leverage their depth of expertise in design, engineering, construction and procurement," said ACEN Australia Managing Director David Pollington.
"Energy Vault's ability to work with our Siemens S120 converters will be particularly valuable as we optimize our battery storage systems for maximum efficiency and impact."
The New England BESS project which is currently backed by the NSW government's "Emerging Energy Program" is a part of ACEN's broader strategy aimed at developing over 1 GW of projects in Australia.
ACEN Australia's New England Solar completed Stage 1 of construction last year. Upon completion of Stage 2, the site is expected to generate a total of 1,800 GWh of renewable electricity annually. In 2023, ACEN Australia secured a 20-year Long Term Energy Service Agreement (LTESA) for New England Solar in the NSW Government's first renewable energy and storage auction.
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