With AGL Energy, a prominent Australian integrated energy company, Wärtsilä has completed construction at the Torrens Island Grid Scale battery energy storage system (ESS) in South Australia. The 250 MWh, 250 MW ESS is the second-largest operational battery in the country.
The project is said to deliver a major step towards Australia’s renewable energy future, supporting the nation’s decarbonisation goals. The flexible capacity provided by Wärtsilä’s advanced ESS balances the supply of energy from renewable sources, maintaining the stability and reliability of the grid. The ESS will provide enough electricity to power approximately 75 000 South Australian homes for one hour, with the potential to extend the duration to four hours in the future.
The Torrens Island system will operate in grid-following mode, transitioning to grid-forming mode (virtual synchronous generation – VSG) in due course. This ground-breaking feature makes it the largest energy storage solution capable of operating in VSG mode, enabling fast response times and future-proofing operations for the Torrens Island facility. The solution is managed by Wärtsilä’s advanced GEMS Power Plant Controller.
The Torrens Island ESS is the latest of Wärtsilä’s projects supporting Australia’s decarbonisation goals. The company has previously supplied a gas fired 211 MW balancing power plant for AGL, the Barker Inlet power station, also located on Torrens Island, and is also delivering a 920 MWh/460 MW battery, in partnership with Origin, at the coal fired Eraring power station in New South Wales.
Image: The Wärtsilä/AGL energy storage system at Torrens Island
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