Last week, the Victorian Government announced that battery installation work has commenced on the first phase of the 1,200 MW Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub which is located in Plumpton – approximately 27 kilometres north-west of the Melbourne CBD near Melton.

Set to become operational in 2025 (first of two phases only), the Hub will be one of the largest renewable energy storage batteries in the world once each of the two phases are completed.

Upon completion of both phases, the hub will deliver up to 2.4 GWh of energy storage and will be capable of servicing more than 1.1 million households for up to four hours during peak periods.

It will store excess rooftop solar and surplus energy from the grid when solar energy generation is high during the day and discharge this during periods of peak energy demand during the evenings.

The project is being delivered in two phases – each of which will deliver 600 MW in capacity.

All up, the first phase will have three battery stages, each with 200MW capacities.

Two of the batteries will have 400MWh of 2-hour storage capacity, and one battery will have 800MWh of four-hour storage capacity.

All up, this phase will involve installation of 44 Tesla Megapack batteries.

Work to prepare the site for battery installation began last September. This included critical earthworks and other critical infrastructure work.

The hub will be owned by the newly recreated SEC Victoria in conjunction with renewable energy investor Equis Australia.

The project will help the SEC to deliver its target of 4.5 gigawatts of new renewable energy generation and storage, which is considered to be important if Victoria is to achieve its target of 95 percent renewable energy generation by 2035.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen welcomed the start of construction.

“We’re building for our future – and the SEC is unlocking more renewable and affordable energy for Victorians with one of the biggest batteries in the world,” Allen said.

 

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