Victoria’s SEC bets big on massive battery storage

Victoria’s newly established, state-owned State Electricity Commission (SEC) has announced a massive first investment which will help infrastructure company Equis build a $1 billion battery, one of the world’s biggest in the state.

Premier Jacinta Allan and Minister for the State Electricity Commission Lily D’Ambrosio turned the first sod on the Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub (the Hub) near Melton in Melbourne’s western suburbs which will store enough energy to power up to 200,000 homes during peak periods.

Equis Managing Director David Russell said: “Equis is excited to partner with Victoria’s SEC to develop the Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub.

“Without this partnership, this project would not be going ahead at this scale and capacity today.”

The SEC has an initial $1 billion available for building 4.5 gigawatts of new renewable energy generation and storage projects.

The Hub is made up of three battery components of 600 megawatts, providing 1.6 gigawatt hours of energy storage.

The SEC is investing $245 million in the Hub – securing its delivery – enabling construction to begin immediately and supporting the project’s battery components to double in size.

Major construction kicked off yesterday, and the Hub is expected to be operational by 2025 when it will start storing excess rooftop solar and surplus energy from the grid.

Victoria has a goal of transitioning to 95 per cent renewable energy generation by 2035.

The SEC received more than 100 Registrations of Interest for its first investment, with a total combined market capacity of 24 gigawatts of generation and 30 gigawatts of storage capacity that will help the SEC build a pipeline of longer-term investment opportunities.

D’Ambrosio said: “The investment is a huge step forward in increasing Victoria’s renewable storage capacity – which is critical to meeting our nation leading targets of 95 per cent renewable energy generation by 2035.”

Picture: State Electricity Commission