Western Australia awards 2.8GWh BESS key contract to China’s CATL and US power electronics company

A rendering of the KBESS 2 project under construction in Western Australia. Image: Synergy

Equipment suppliers for two landmark battery energy storage projects in Western Australia (WA) have been awarded contracts worth more than $1 billion from the state government.

Western Australia Premier Roger Cook and Minister for Mines, Petroleum and Energy Bill Johnston said in a joint statement this morning that China's Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL) and US-based Power Electronics have been selected for the state's projects in the Kwinana and Koli regions.

Both will be the largest battery energy storage system (BESS) assets in Australia upon completion and will add to recently completed projects in their respective regions. Notably, they are located in historical mining areas closely associated with coal, representing Western Australia’s energy transition, both figuratively and literally.

Collie’s system will be 500MW/2000MWh and could be an early example of the adoption of four-hour duration lithium-ion battery energy storage technology in the Australian market.

Construction began in June and it is likely to be not only the largest battery storage system in Western Australia, but also the second largest in Australia, behind the Waratah Superbattery, which is currently under construction in New South Wales and has a capacity of 850MW/1,680MWh.

Meanwhile, another project, Kwinana Battery Energy Storage System 2 (KBESS 2), is the successor to KBESS 1, which reached operational testing phase in May before full commercial operation, with its owner, state-owned utility Synergy, providing an update for the last time.

KBESS 1 is currently the largest BESS asset in Western Australia with a capacity of 100MW/200MWh. KBESS 2 will reach 200MW/800MWh.

Western Australia has an independent electricity network and therefore a separate electricity market compared to most other major states in the National Electricity Market (NEM) in eastern and southern Australia.

This means the South West Interconnected System (SWIS) to which the two new projects will connect has far less flexibility in balancing the network, as states in the NEM can call upon massive BESS assets from South Australia to Queensland, with Victoria and New South Wales in between.

In May this year, the government pledged financial support for the two new projects when it announced the 2023-2024 fiscal year budget.

CATL, still the world’s largest lithium battery manufacturer by some measures, will provide its EnerC complete liquid-cooled containerized battery storage solution for both projects, while Power Electronics will provide inverters and power conversion systems (PCS) for both projects.

The expected completion date for KBESS 2 is late 2024, while no expected or estimated completion date was given for the Collie project in today’s ministerial release.

“Valued at over AU$1 billion (US$650 million), these contracts are a significant investment by our government in a cleaner, reliable and affordable energy future for Western Australia. Battery storage will play a key role in our decarbonisation plans, storing excess renewable energy generated during the day and discharging it when demand is high,” Cook said, adding that “these projects are part of a government initiative and AU$2.8 billion investment to transform the state into a ‘global green energy superpower’”.

(Original source: Energy Storage News Global Energy Storage Network, New Energy Network Comprehensive)