International engineering, design and advisory company Aurecon released a new report that analyzes the performance of the world's largest Tesla lithium-ion battery energy storage system and its value to the national electricity market after its second year of operation.

Owned and operated by Neoen, supplied by Tesla and located in South Australia, Hornsdale Power Reserve continues to show the world how one large battery can revolutionize renewable energy. Created two years ago in record time to stabilize the state’s energy system, facilitate the integration of renewable energy and prevent blackouts, the large-scale battery storage system has saved more than Au $150 million ($97.83 million) in energy costs for the first two years operation.

Aurecon's Managing Director - Energy, Resources and Water Paul Gleeson said, “It demonstrates at scale the potential for battery storage to provide fast acting supply and demand balancing to the network, which is critical to maintaining consistent frequency for grid stability and improving integration of renewable energy to the National Electricity Market.”

The report quantifies the market gains from the presence of Neoen's Hornsdale Power Reserve on the national electricity market during 2019 compared to simulating what pricing would be if it were not on the market.

Aurecon found that the existing 100 MW facility reduced the cost of ancillary contingency services by about AU $80 million ($52.18 million), and the total Regulation Frequency Control Ancillary Services cost by about AU $36 million ($23.48 million), and the total cost reduction was approximately AU $116 million ($75.66 million).

Reuters

The latest Aurecon report also provides an analysis of the main outages in Victoria on November 16, 2019, which resulted in the South Australia network becoming “island” or segregated from the rest of the national power grid.

“The islanding event in November 2019 resulted in substantial cost savings of approximately AU $14 million ($9.13 million), with Hornsdale Power Reserve's presence significantly reducing the duration of price spikes during the event when all services needed to be sourced locally within the state of South Australia,” Mr Gleeson said.

Louis de Sambucy, Managing Director of Neoen Australia, acknowledged the importance of the Aurecon report:

“Realized with our partners Tesla, the expansion of the world's largest battery will not only mean more savings for all, but will also demonstrate the highly innovative services that batteries can provide to the grid and continue to position South Australia at the forefront of the energy transition,” said Mr de Sambucy.

The Project Management Institute’s recent inclusion of Hornsdale Power Reserve as one of the world’s most influential projects of the past 50 years. The expansion of the Hornsdale Power Reserve will only serve as a further demonstration that the large-scale accumulation of battery energy is an integral part of the complex necessary to ensure the reliability and stability of the power system during a controlled transition to renewable energy sources.

Aurecon continues to lead the development of strategies, policies and projects to take advantage of opportunities and manage the risks of energy transition, working closely with the federal government, state and territory governments and the entire industry to implement future energy ideas, and Tesla provides them with an excellent tool to carry out the tasks.

The project began in 2017 after Elon Musk bet that he could get a 100-megawatt system and run it in 100 days to help solve the energy crisis in South Australia.

Hornsdale and other grid-scale batteries offer a way to deal with the variability of wind and solar energy, and South Australia is considered a global testing ground for switching from fossil fuels.

Batteries smooth out energy flows that can compromise network stability. A Tesla battery can respond to these frequency instabilities much faster than coal or gas generators, and at a much lower cost, said Garth Heron, Neoen’s head of development in Australia.

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Featured image: ARENA