16 April 2021
One of South Australia’s “other” big battery installations, the 30MW/8MWh ESCRI ElectraNet battery storage system at Dalrymple, has earned enough revenue in its first two years of operation to return the $12 million in grant funding provided by ARENA to the project.
In a report published this week as part of a “knowledge sharing” deal that came with the funding, ARENA said the ESRCI had earned $22.6 million in frequency control ancillary services revenue and $319,820 in discharging revenue between December 2018 and December 2020.
“FCAS revenue peaked in the six months from December 2019 to June 2020, earning $15.6 million in addition to $102,000 discharging revenue, from a $76,000 charging cost,” the ARENA report says, indicating it cashed in on the same “islanding” event that deliver a huge windfall to the better known Tesla big battery.