This report summarises the operations of the Wallgrove Grid Battery between Jan/2023 and Jun/2023 (12-18 months of operations). The report provides technical insights, such as synthetic inertia reponse during grid events, and describes the participation in the energy and FCAS markets.
Report extract
The WGB is a 50MW/75MWh (1.5-hour duration) battery energy storage system (BESS) located adjacent to the Transgrid Sydney West 330/132kV substation (Wallgrove) in Eastern Creek, NSW. The WGB tests how well a battery can deliver services that will be needed to stabilise the grid through Australia’s energy transition to a low-carbon market. It also operates commercially – Iberdrola Australia controls the battery’s dispatch to participate in the frequency control ancillary services (FCAS) and wholesale energy markets.
Approximately 1,414 work hours occurred onsite during the third six-month period of operations. There were no safety or
environmental issues onsite.
This was the first full reporting period in which Tesla’s Virtual Machine Mode (VMM) was enabled and could be observed responding to disruptions in the network. Transgrid technical personnel continue to observe the performance of the battery to understand the potential of virtual inertia to provide network services as synchronous generation retires, and in doing so Transgrid is now meeting the main objective of its funding agreement with ARENA. While initial results are included in this Report, the full findings will be released in early 2024.
The commercial operation of the WGB aligned with Iberdrola Australia’s experience operating the Lake Bonney BESS in South Australia. A clear progression toward energy revenue and away from regulation FCAS was evident, with the WGB deriving 38 per cent of its revenue in the energy market, up from 26 per cent in the previous period.
The availability of the battery fell significantly through the period, through a number of unplanned outages.