The construction of the first stage of a large-scale battery at the Eraring Power Station in New South Wales was confirmed by Origin Energy (ORG.AX) on Thursday. The company announced an investment of about A$600 million (US$403 million) to develop the battery.
Origin relies on solar and wind power
A year ago, Origin announced the early closure of the country’s largest coal-fired power plant, scheduled for 2025, for economic reasons related to competition from solar and wind power.
Brookfield’s (BAM.TO) partnership with EIG to purchase Origin was also approved, with a planned investment of A$20 billion to replace existing generation with up to 14 gigawatts of new renewable energy generation and energy storage facilities over a ten-year period.
Eraring, a symbol of Origin’s new strategy
Origin, Australia’s largest energy retailer, has signed agreements to supply and build a 460 megawatt (MW) battery energy storage system in Eraring, with a discharge time of two hours, scheduled to come online in the last quarter of 2025. The battery capacity could be increased to 700 MW with a discharge time of four hours in the future.
Eraring is Australia’s largest power station and supplies about a quarter of New South Wales’ energy needs. This is the only coal-fired power plant operated by Origin. This decision marks an important step in Origin’s strategy to accelerate the energy transition and develop renewable energy and energy storage in its portfolio. Origin CEO Frank Calabria hailed the approval of the Eraring battery as a significant step in that strategy.
