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NEWS RELEASE Direct grid-connected battery could be a game-changer > Directly connected to the national grid > Battery will store electricity and trade in the wholesale energy and reserve markets > Site scalable for expansion to 100MW+, making grid-connected batteries a likely feature of Auckland’s future security of electricity supply 3 October 2017 – In a New Zealand first, Mercury has announced the development of a grid-scale battery that will be directly connected to the national grid. The tender to supply the initial battery technology closed today. Mercury is investing over $2 million to understand how battery technologies can play a part in the future of New Zealand’s electricity eco-system, and gain experience in the operation of direct national grid-connected battery energy storage and trading. Power will be drawn from the national grid, just over the fence from Mercury’s Research & Development Centre. It will be stored in the 1MW/ 2MWh lithium-ion battery, and actively traded in both the wholesale energy and reserve markets – another New Zealand first. Were it to be expanded, this flexible power source could help flatten daily peak demands for electricity from the grid and meet other short-term peaks, complementing the flexibility of Mercury’s Waikato Hydro System. The battery’s location within Auckland on a strategic site with potential for significant additional battery storage means it could be a key component in the future management of security of supply. “We believe that high voltage grid-connected battery storage has the potential to be a game-changer for Auckland because it redistributes energy from off peak to when it’s most needed. This could make a real difference to the way power is supplied to homes and businesses over the coming decades particularly as populations grow,” says Fraser Whineray, Mercury’s Chief Executive. “We see many New Zealand companies looking at the opportunities from the development of battery technology. Mercury’s strategic, R&D-focused project takes this to the next level, gaining scale experience in energy trading between battery and grid, and delivering competitive outcomes for our customers.” Transpower says it looks forward to learning more from Mercury’s innovation. “We believe that technology will offer new opportunities to store electricity economically and close to the centres where it is used,” says Andrew Renton, Senior Principal Engineer, Transpower. 1
“Transpower’s recent study ‘Battery Storage In New Zealand’ predicts that in the future battery technologies will change the operation and role of the National Grid, and we look forward to learning more from this initiative.” The battery will be situated at Mercury’s R&D Centre in Penrose. This is adjacent to, but doesn’t impinge on its mothballed gas power station, a critical piece of long-term energy infrastructure and now the only one of its kind in Auckland’s fastest-growing city. The R&D centre is perfectly positioned for this initial use and future expansion, 1
https://www.transpower.co.nz/about-us/transmission-tomorrow/battery-storage-new-zealand