10 March 2021
One of Australia’s oldest and most polluting power stations – the Yallourn brown coal generator in Victoria – is to close four years early and will be partially replaced by what is being described as the world’s biggest battery.
EnergyAustralia’s Jeeralang big battery – sized at 350MW and 1400MWh – may be the biggest battery “commitment” made to date, but even bigger batteries have already been mooted in Australia and overseas, and will likely be built by the time Jeeralang is delivered at the end of 2026.
But what is clear is that there is a massive shift happening here. Coal is on the way out, as is “baseload” gas, and wind and solar and storage facilities, particularly battery storage, are on the way in. And many of the biggest batteries are being planned at the sites of coal and gas generators already closed or expected to close in coming years or decades.