The 100MW/200MWh Chinchilla battery in Queensland, Australia, has been registered and connected to the grid. Expectations are high that the massive battery farm’s commissioning will begin soon.
The Chinchilla battery features 80 Tesla Megapack batteries. It is also the first battery farm that will be built by state-owned generator CS Energy, as noted in a Renew Economy report. The facility was committed as part of the state’s response to an explosion at the Callide coal-fired generator — an incident that helped convince the state to accelerate its adoption of sustainable solutions.
The 80 Tesla Megapack batteries are situated next to the Kogan Creek coal-fired generator, which also happens to be owned by CS Energy. The 750MW Kogan Creek coal-fired generator is among the largest coal-fired facilities in Australia. As per local reports, CS Energy is looking to develop a clean energy hub around Kogan Creek, so the Tesla Megapack farm could be considered part of the state-owned generator’s initiatives in the area.
A number of big battery installations are being rolled out in Queensland. These include the Wandoan battery and the Bouldercombe battery, which was commissioned recently. Neoen is also building the 270MW/540 MWh Western Downs battery in the same region as the Chinchilla battery. Akaysha Energy is setting up the 150MW/300MWh Ulinda Park battery near Kogan Creek as well.
As noted in a Renew Economy report, Queensland still has a lot of areas for improvement with regard to its adoption of renewable energy solutions. Over the last 12 months, the state only sourced 28% of its power needs from sustainable solutions. Queensland has ambitious targets, however, with the state aiming to hit 50% renewables by 2030 and 80% renewables by 2035.
Tesla’s Megapack batteries are becoming a key component of large battery projects worldwide. The production of the grid-scale batteries seems to be ramping as well, as hinted at by the 332 Megapack batteries that were sighted during a recent drone flyover of Tesla’s Lathrop Megafactory. The Lathrop Megafactory has a target output of 10,000 Megapacks per year.
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