6 GWh CATL battery in Australia: Stanwell locks in massive gas-plus-storage hybrid plant with Quinbrook

State-owned generator Stanwell has announced it has moved to lock in major shifts to the state of Queensland’s grid, as it signed an exclusivity agreement with Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners for the massive Gladstone State Development Area (GSDA) Energy Hub. This area is located some 500 kilometers north of Brisbane in the state of Queensland.

The latest agreement is a rapid escalation of a recent partnership between the two companies, arriving little more than a month after they made a deal for Quinbrook to work on a 12-month pilot test at the site of the Stanwell coal generator with battery industry heavyweight CATL’s EnerQB BESS technology.

Although announced as being partially designed for shifting solar energy, with CATL providing both new hardware and software, the deal centers on 1,080 MW of open-cycle gas turbines integrated with synchronous condensers, backed by a colossal 780 MW / 6,240 MWh (eight-hour duration) battery energy storage system (BESS) supplied by CATL.

The deal remains in the MoU phase, with financials or final timings not detailed.

CATL and Quinbrook’s EnerQB BESS

The EnerQB BESS acting as an eight-hour battery for Quinbrook was first announced back in March, the landmark approach coming after two years of design and development by CATL.

At the time, Quinbrook’s CEO in Australia, Brian Restall, said the EnerQB BESS was much more energy dense than existing technologies, adding that the advance is the result of design enhancements rather than a shift in CATL’s cell technology.

“It is an evolution more in the design of the container,” he said. “It is not to do with the chemistry of the cells, it’s how we do the configuration in the containers to keep the temperature down so it’s got much lower parasitic load.”

“There are other marketing announcements which talk about an eight-hour battery and the configuration but the technology that they are using is a two-hour or four-hour battery designed and run at half speed,” he said. “It’s not a specific design for an eight-hour battery. They are almost 80% less energy dense than the new design and they have 4-5% higher parasitic load than the new design.”

Plan B for Stanwell after hydrogen

The Gladstone State Development Area was first announced in 1993 by the Queensland State Government. But the GSDA Energy Hub Project is a much more recent development, and is part of a strategic shift by Stanwell after the hydrogen dream faded.

Back in June, the state-owned generator formally discontinued its involvement in the Central Queensland Hydrogen Project (CQ-H2), effectively ending its bid to turn Gladstone into a global hydrogen export hub. The writing had been on the wall for some time as Japanese companies initially involved pulled out months earlier, after projected costs exceeded early feasibility studies. Previously, in May, Fortescue also abandoned its electrolyser project set for Gladstone.

Now shifting to a unique gas-BESS hybrid may still provide the major industrial region in Australia with affordable energy. Details as to why gas generation would be required versus solar, wind, or both wasn’t provided.

Stanwell CEO Michael O’Rourke said the GSDA Project would support Queensland’s energy reliability and economic growth.

“As Queensland’s electricity demand increases, our collaboration with Quinbrook positions Stanwell to deliver to Queenslanders affordable and reliable energy for years to come,” he said.

“The proposed GSDA Energy Hub Project will combine gas power generation and 8-hour battery storage through a novel configuration in a strategic location that supports Queensland’s critical heavy industries.

“This agreement provides Stanwell with exclusivity to negotiate commercial arrangements to facilitate the GSDA Energy Hub Project.

“We look forward to continuing our partnership with Quinbrook as the innovative GSDA Energy Hub Project and the 8-hour EnerQB battery pilot continue to progress.”

Brian Restall, Quinbrook CEO said it was “fantastic” to continue to work closely with Stanwell on “market leading, novel projects”.

“Quinbrook retains high conviction that Queensland remains a very attractive place to invest in the energy transition especially with innovative projects that directly support decarbonisation of the grid and in turn, the industries that depend on resilient power supply infrastructure.

“Our ongoing partnership with Stanwell demonstrates our shared commitment to delivering affordable, reliable and sustainable energy for the Sunshine state.

“Our pioneering EnerQB long duration storage solution combined with the ultra-long backup of open cycle gas turbines and then complimented by the grid stability services offered by synchronous condensers, marks another pioneering development by Quinbrook which is a truly innovative contribution directly supporting Queensland’s energy transition and the Queensland Government’s Energy Plan.”