Hazelwood Battery

Client: ENGIE and Macquarie Capital
Location: Latrobe Valley, Victoria
Date: 2020 - 2021 

Providing power systems expertise to facilitate grid connection of a utility-scale battery energy storage system

Background

Grid-scale batteries play a key role in enabling a greater proportion of renewable energy generation in the National Electricity Market by firming weather-dependent intermittent renewables and providing frequency control ancillary services to balance and stabilise the grid. In doing so, battery energy storage systems support the decarbonisation of Australia’s energy sector.

Victoria’s wind and solar farms are multiplying rapidly, and the state’s population is growing. These factors, coupled with the potential for increased frequency and duration of extreme summer weather events, will make battery storage increasingly important for maintaining consistent, reliable electricity services, especially in periods of peak summer demand.

Entura supported our clients, ENGIE and Macquarie Capital, to achieve grid connection for a 150 MW / 150 MWh battery energy storage system at the site of the former coal-powered Hazelwood Power Station in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley. Achieving successful grid connection agreement is a challenging part of the development of renewable energy assets in the current Australian electricity landscape.

Solution

Entura provided power systems modelling expertise to develop the connection application and performance standards in line with the National Electricity Rules. The increasing demands on inverter-based technology to demonstrate compliance required close collaboration with Fluence and PE (original equipment manufacturers) to tweak inverter and power plant controller (PPC) capabilities to work through various tuning and performance steps. Detailed grid connection studies were carried out for the project, which was modelled both as a load and generator. Steady state and dynamic studies (in PSSe and PSCAD) were conducted to assess the performance of the battery energy storage system in relation to the National Electricity Rules and its effect on the network.

Entura’s wealth of expertise in hybrid renewables and generator connection helped to navigate the complex path to grid connection, with a grid connection application accepted and confirmed by the Australian Energy Market Operator in November 2021.

As the project proceeds, Entura’s power systems team will undertake further work including validation and registration of the modelling.

Services provided

  • Power system studies 
  • Grid connection compliance assessment

Outcome

Construction of Hazelwood Battery was completed in April 2023, with grid testing taking place that same month. It was officially commissioned in June, delivering further grid stability for Victoria and aligning with increasing demand in the summer months. It contributes to Victoria's goal of 2.6 GW of battery storage connected to the grid by 2030 and 6.3 GW by 2035. 

The Hazelwood Battery is privately funded by ENGIE and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group. It will be built, operated and maintained by Fluence Energy over a 20-year period. The project will be the first in Australia to use Fluence’s Gridstack battery system, incorporating 342 modular factory-built Fluence Cubes, each of which contains battery modules as well as inverters, transformers, switchgear and other equipment.

Hear Donald Vaughan, our Principal Consultant for Primary Electrical Systems, explain more about the project below.