Shell to build 200MW, 400MWH massive battery system in Australia

The system will have enough storage to power 80,000 homes in Victoria for an hour at times of peak demand.

Baba Tamim
Shell to build 200MW, 400MWH massive battery system in Australia
Representational image, ecofriendly battery.

Petmal/iStock 

Shell, the British energy giant and one of Australia’s leading liquefied natural gas (LNG) producers, has inked a deal to produce a mammoth battery system in Australia. 

Macquarie Asset Management and Green Investment Group partnered with Shell to build two massive batteries at the Rangebank business park in Cranbourne, south-eastern Melbourne, according to a joint press release published on Friday. 

“The Rangebank project is our first grid-scale battery investment in Victoria and marks Shell’s first direct equity investment in a utility-scale BESS globally,” said Greg Joiner, CEO of Shell Energy Australia.

“This signals Shell Energy’s commitment to accelerating the energy transition and contributing to [the] growth of firming capacity.”

The 200-megawatt, 400-megawatt-hour battery system will have the storage capacity to power 80,000 homes across Victoria for an hour during peak demand when it is finished in 2024.

The $300-$400 million project will increase Victoria’s “firming capacity” and provide essential services to ensure the stability of the system, enhancing Victoria’s potential to host more renewable energy.

This is Shell’s first grid-scale battery investment in Victoria and its first direct equity investment in a utility-scale battery energy storage system internationally.

Australia’s energy transition 

Joiner stated that as the clean energy transition accelerated, the business anticipated constructing a huge battery of a comparable scale per year in Australia. 

Big batteries will become more crucial as Australia moves away from coal-fired energy because of their capacity to store renewable energy when it is most plentiful and to release it when it is not sunny or windy.

The initiative, created by GIG and Shell Energy, aims to promote the safe, secure, and dependable functioning of Australia’s power grid while increasing Victoria’s capacity to host renewable energy.

Shell Energy will have access to 100% of the battery’s offtake over a 20-year period, according to an offtake arrangement.

Other BESS projects for Shell Energy in Australia include two 500MW/1,000MWh facilities in development in New South Wales, one of which is being co-developed with AMPYR Energy in Wellington, Central West NSW.