Neoen Australia has won a contract to build its first long-duration battery in Collie, Western Australia.
Stage 1 of Collie Battery is sized at 219MW/877 MWh and consists of 224 Tesla Megapack 2XL units. The project, which Neoen originated in 2021, received development approval for a total of 1GW/4GWh in December 2022. The battery will be located near the town of Collie, on the country of the Wilman people of the Bibbulmun nation, in the South West region of Western Australia. It will connect to Western Power’s Shotts Terminal substation, which is part of the South-West Interconnected System (SWIS), a separate network to the one on the eastern coast of Australia.
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Neoen has provided notices to proceed to Tesla and construction contractor UGL (a member of the CIMIC Group) signaling the start of construction for Stage 1 of Collie Battery. It is expected to be operational in Q4 2024. The battery is Neoen’s first major project in Western Australia and will also be its first 4-hour long-duration battery globally.
The AEMO Non-Co-optimised Essential System Services (NCESS) contract will run for a period of two years from 1 October 2024. It will provide 197MW of storage capacity for 4 hours, charging during the day and then discharging across the evening peak. This is intended to address the risks AEMO has identified relating to the retirement of coal power plants and increasingly high penetration of rooftop solar in Western Australia.
The Collie Battery is Neoen’s sixth big battery in Australia, bringing its total Australian storage assets to over 1.1GW in operation or under construction, and further cementing its position as the country’s leading developer, owner and operator of batteries.
It already owns and operates the 300MW/450MWh Victorian Big Battery in Geelong and the 150MW/193.5MWh Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia, while its 100MW/200MWh Capital Battery, 200MW/400MWh Blyth Battery and 200MW/400MWh Western Downs Battery are all currently under construction.
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Neoen Australia CEO Louis de Sambucy said, “We are delighted to have won a NCESS contract and would like to thank AEMO, Western Power and the WA Government for placing their trust in us. This is an exciting time for Neoen as it is our first major project in WA, and it also means we now have a big battery in five of the six Australian states. With our growing team in Perth and a strong pipeline of projects we look forward to playing an increasingly significant role in the state’s rapid decarbonisation.”
AEMO CEO Daniel Westerman said, “As Western Australia’s major electricity system transitions away from coal-fired generation, critical investments are needed in low-cost renewable energy backed by firming generation, such as batteries and gas, and augmentation of the transmission network. Neoen’s Collie Battery, procured through AEMO’s NCESS process, will provide consumers with energy security and reliability during the transition to firmed renewables.”
