Decarbonising the electricity grid got another step closer in recent days, with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency announcing $445,000 funding for AGL to develop a business case for grid-connected energy storage in partnership with WorleyParsons and ElectraNet.
“Commercial scale storage is especially important for enabling higher penetrations of renewables where less base load energy is provided by fossil fuels,” ARENA chief executive Ivor Frischknecht said.
The project will look at feeding the energy produced by AGL’s South Australian wind farms overnight back into the grid during daytime peak demand periods. Mr Frischknecht said the project would set out a clear pathway for establishing commercial scale, grid integrated electricity storage in Australia.
“In the long term it could potentially become the norm for new renewable energy installations, increasing their competitiveness and leading to more renewables in Australia,” Mr Frischknecht said.
The study is scheduled for completion in September 2015.