Road to Renewable Grids: A Hundred Million Dollar Funding for Next-Gen Big Batteries Will Open Next Week

Next week, an astounding $100 million investment round will open for next-generation massive battery storage systems with enhanced or "grid forming" inverters, viewed as critical for the transition to 100% renewable grids.

The investment round, initially reported by RenewEconomy in November, comes after the Australian Energy Market Operator released a key "white paper" last year highlighting the necessity of grid forming inverters in networks that go beyond fossil fuel sources.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency's financing round was ultimately announced via a media statement sent out by the office of energy minister Angus Taylor on Christmas Eve, ensuring that the historic effort would receive little or no media attention at the time.

New Grid Systems

Inverters that construct grids are a fast-developing technology.

They're common in off-grid systems, and some recent on-grid huge battery deployments (like the extension of the Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia, seen above) have included the technology, which is an essential component of battery storage's rising income and capabilities stack.

However, it is only recently that they have been recognized for the critical role in a future grid dominated by renewables.

The ARENA funding round aims to ensure that these are deployed in larger installations to give them an actual test of their ability to manage grid fluctuations and disturbances and provide many of the critical "grid services" that have previously been provided primarily by coal and gas generators.

The investment round is intended to finance battery storage systems with an inverter rating of at least 70MW. In contrast, the storage length will likely be determined by what other services the massive battery will provide.

It will focus on at least three projects, and while it allows for retrofits and extensions of existing projects, the cash allocation system requires that at least two of the winning projects be new installations. A single project will be allocated a maximum of $35 million.

"Grid-scale batteries and other forms of energy storage technologies will be critical to sustaining our future renewable-powered electrical grid," said ARENA CEO Darren Miller in a statement released on Christmas Eve.

"The importance of sophisticated inverters in grid-scale batteries in providing system stability, permitting a more efficient transition, and accelerating the acceptance of renewable production will be demonstrated in this financing cycle."

Purpose

The funds will demonstrate how advanced inverters may minimize dependency on synchronous generators (or synchronous condensers) for system stability and perform essential system functions in power system planning at scale and non-multiple states.

They will also assist market regulators in determining how to make grid-forming battery services more efficient, either by forming new markets or offering particular contracts.

Expressions of interest will be accepted starting next Tuesday, February 1st, and will conclude on March 31st. Winning bids will be announced later in 2022, with financial closing scheduled in December 2023 and project completion in mid-2025.

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