Wartsila and Fluence have secured contracts from Australian energy company AGL to supply up to 1000MW of grid-scale battery storage between them.
The two companies were chosen through a competitive tender process for their capability, experience and pricing as well as their alignment with AGL’s values and strategic objectives.
AGL chief operating officer Markus Brokhof said: “This framework agreement is another example of AGL getting on with the business of energy transition and will enable delivery against our commitment to build 850MW of grid-scale battery storage by FY2024.
“Wartsila and Fluence are both global leaders in energy storage technologies, ensuring we are investing in the highest standards for performance, reliability and safety.”
AGL is already “well advanced” with its planning process and the framework agreements will reduce tender timeframes for individual projects, enabling faster project schedules and commercial operation, it said.
Brokhof added: “We’re excited to see our grid-scale battery plans begin to come to life; we know energy storage technology is critical in creating cleaner and smarter distributed energy infrastructure.
“Our grid-scale battery plans provide critical firming capacity to the market and will play a leading role in the energy industry’s transition over the coming decades.”
Last year, AGL announced plans to build batteries at Loy Yang A power station in Victoria (200MW), Liddell power station (150MW) and Broken Hill (50MW) in New South Wales and Torrens Island (250MW) in South Australia.
Brokhof said AGL has been Australia’s largest private investor in renewables and is now leading in the development of storage technology such as batteries.
Wartsila energy sales director Suraj Narayan said: “AGL is a valued customer for Wartsila and we look forward to providing our smart technology solutions to support AGL’s plans for critical firming capacity that will play a leading role in the energy transition from coal to renewables.”
Fluence global markets vice president Jan Teichmann said: “Fluence is proud to offer our long experience and latest-generation technology to support AGL’s goal of delivering firm renewable power.
“Australia’s grid is evolving quickly, and batteries can fill critical gaps left by coal and gas retirements, both the super-fast services needed to strengthen the grid and as a source of peak power.”