Power giant AGL to build mega battery at former coal station   

The Age
December 19, 2023

Power giant AGL Energy will construct a large grid-scale battery on the site of the former Liddell coal-fired power station as a slew of other renewable and storage projects gain backing from the NSW government.

AGL, under pressure from its largest shareholder Mike Cannon-Brookes to speed up its rollout of renewables, will begin constructing the two-hour duration, 500-megawatt battery early next year, adding to its 930-megawatt portfolio of approved and operational batteries.

Large grid-scale batteries will help power homes in NSW in the coming years.


A two-hour battery would put out enough energy to power about 200,000 ordinary homes for two hours. The Liddell battery is expected to be operating by 2026 and will cost $750 million to build.

AGL shut down Liddell in NSW’s Upper Hunter in April after almost 52 years of operation, as part of an accelerating wave of coal-fired power closures driven by high operating costs and cheaper renewables that are undercutting fossil fuel’s profitability.

The Australian Energy Market Operator warned on Friday that the country’s last coal plant would shut in 2038, five years earlier than it expected just two years ago, as ownership of generators becomes less attractive.

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Meanwhile, a private renewable energy group owned by mining magnate Andrew Forrest is among five projects that were given long-term energy service agreements under the Minns government’s third round of tenders for generation and long-duration storage infrastructure.

The agreements underwrite private investment in renewables, giving generators the option to sell electricity at an agreed minimum fixed price to financially underpin their projects and ensure there’s enough power to keep the lights on.

Forrest’s Squadron Energy will build the 400-megawatt Uungula wind farm at Wellington, west of Sydney. The farm’s 93 turbines will generate enough power for 220,000 homes.   



Other approved storage and generation projects include Neoen Australia’s Culcairn solar farm, a hybrid battery energy storage in Merriwa; another battery energy storage owned by Ark Energy in Myrtle Creek; and the Silver City compressed-air energy storage system in Broken Hill.

AGL said it would fund the Liddell battery from cash flows, existing debt, and a $35 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

“The Liddell battery will be a key component of achieving our interim target of approximately 5 gigawatts of new renewables and firming capacity in place by 2030,” AGL chief executive Damien Nicks said.

An early summer heatwave across Australia’s eastern seaboard has heightened the risk of blackouts. Unplanned coal generator outages are becoming more common as the fleet ages. As many as eight generation units in five coal plants are currently offline, just as households crank up their air conditioners and ramp up electricity use to cope with soaring temperatures.

whiteknight wrote on Dec 20^th, 2023 at 9:36am:


So 8 million dwellings in NSW alone. That would be 1.5 minutes if the grid didn't include Vic, Qld. SA or Tas.

Australia is, like most of the world, one of those places where renewables get a subsidy whether there is output or not. That's why power bilss go up. You have to pay for real power as well.