A battery using Tesla technology to power over 60,000 homes per evening using renewable energy is being built at Greenbank.
The battery will be able to store 400 megawatt hours of energy with a discharge capacity of 200 megawatts – enough to power 66,000 homes for two hours during the evening peak.
It will comprise of 108 Tesla Megapack systems – rechargeable lithium-ion batteries – and will also be used to power homes throughout south-east Queensland during blackouts.
Siteworks began late 2023 and the developer of the battery, CS Energy, predicts the megapacks will arrive by mid-2024 and the battery will be operational by mid-2025.
CS Energy is collaborating with the state’s transmission operator, Powerlink Queensland, to deliver the $300 million project.
It’s a partnership CS Energy CEO Darren Busine said was the “first of its kind”.
“CS Energy is investing in energy storage to create a more flexible portfolio to meet our customers’ requirements and Queensland’s future energy needs,” Mr Busine said.
“This is our second battery project, and we are again working with Tesla because they set the industry benchmark for energy storage product design and safety.”
The battery will be located on Powerlink-owned land adjacent to the Greenbank Substation on Pub Lane.
It will store the region’s surplus solar and wind energy produced during the day to be used at night.
The battery can also be turned on and off faster than power generators, meaning it will be able to “rapidly respond when there is a sudden gap in electricity supply, helping stabilise the grid and support system security and reliability”, according to CS Energy.
The company has told residents not to worry about noise and visual pollution, saying “vegetation between the battery and Pub Lane will provide screening from the road”.
“Cooling fans form part of each battery unit’s cooling system, which operate when charging and discharging,” CS Energy said.
“The fans emit a continuous noise when operating – the higher the fans run for cooling, the more noise emitted.
“Noise modelling studies undertaken by specialist advisors indicated that noise emissions could be controlled by acoustic barriers.
“As a result, noise walls have been included in the project design to mitigate potential noise impacts to acceptable levels in accordance with relevant criteria.”
