Australia’s Transgrid to open 1 GW grid-forming battery tender

Sydney-based grid operator Transgrid will tender for gigawatt-scale grid-forming battery energy storage systems (BESS), with an initial 1 GW of facilities expected online before 2027.

That first tender will be part of a longer-term aim of securing 5 GW of grid-forming BESS capacity.

Transgrid Executive General Manager of Network Jason Krstanoski said the company received interest from the owners of more than 7.5 GW of BESS when it first developed a plan to maintain the system strength of the NSW grid.

“We are finalizing the technical analysis that will determine the battery capacity needed for our initial process and we look forward to engaging further with battery owners in the coming months,” Krstanoski said.

The executive said the initial tender round “will be followed by periodic tenders, in 2026 and beyond, so that we can progressively add additional stabilizing battery capacity to our system strength portfolio, eventually reaching the 5 GW of grid-forming batteries we put forward in our system strength plan. At that threshold, grid-forming batteries owned by third parties will provide [the] equivalent system strength support of 17 synchronous condensers, in terms of stabilizing capacity for new renewable [energy] generator connections.”

The grid-forming batteries will make up about half of NSW’s portfolio of system strength solutions, at a cost of around AUD 8.8 billion ($5.8 billion).

Transgrid will register contracts with the Australian Energy Market Operator to enable dispatch and to ensure grid stabilizing measures are in place when they are needed, next year.

Krstanoski said the use of grid-scale batteries as stabilizers means Transgrid can accelerate its strengthening of the renewable energy grid without increasing the network’s footprint.

“That’s good news for consumers because we do not need to purchase, own, install or significantly upgrade the network to operate these energy storage devices,” said Krstanoski. “Giant batteries will complement the proven grid-strengthening role played by synchronous condensers to enable the NSW power system to operate at up to 100% [feed-in from] instantaneous [-ly generating] renewables.”

From pv magazine Australia.