The Collie Battery Stage 1 has reached a key milestone, delivering its first grid capacity services to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) ahead of schedule.
The battery storage facility is located near the town of Collie, on the country of the Wilman people of the Bibbulmun nation, in the South West region of Western Australia and is the largest battery in the state to date.
It began delivering its 197MW/four-hour grid capacity to AEMO on 1 October 2024. Neoen’s contract with AEMO, called ‘non-co-optimised essential system services’ (NCESS), runs for a period of two years.
The battery charges during the day and then discharges across the evening peak.
The service is designed to address the risks AEMO identified relating to the phased retirement of Western Australian Government owned coal-fired power plants and increasingly high penetration of rooftop solar in Western Australia.
Neoen said that the 219MW/877MWh battery, the largest in Western Australia to date, will be instrumental in supporting electricity reliability as the state transitions to renewable energy. It is the first Neoen asset to connect into SWIS (South-West Interconnected System).
Collie Battery Stage 2 (341MW/1,363MWh), which is underpinned by a 300MW/four-hour NCESS with AEMO, is currently under construction and expected to be operational in Q4 2025.
Altogether, the Collie Battery (560MW/2,240MWh) will have the ability to charge and discharge 20 per cent of average demand in the SWIS.
Neoen said long duration storage is increasingly needed as electricity networks transition to higher penetrations of renewable energy.
Neoen Australia CEO, Jean-Christophe Cheylus, said, “We are extremely proud to have delivered the largest battery in Western Australia in record time.
“I would like to thank everyone who has worked tirelessly to make this happen: Western Power, Tesla and UGL as well as AEMO and the Western Australian Government. We are delighted to be contributing a storage project of this scale and duration. With over 2GW of projects in our pipeline in Western Australia, we are committed to continuing to play our part in the state’s energy transition.”
Western Australian Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Action, Reece Whitby, said the State Government is clear that its energy future will be powered by a mix of rooftop solar, onshore wind, and large-scale battery storage, backed by gas.
“This battery will support household investment in rooftop solar by soaking up excess energy produced during the day and making it available in the evening when it’s most needed.
“It’s the exact sort of development that the State Government is supporting, as we get on with the job of retiring state-owned coal-fired power by 2030, embracing Western Australia’s clean energy future, and ensuring Collie continues to be at the heart of our state’s south-west energy supply.”
Western Power CEO, Sam Barbaro, said the Western Power network is playing a key role in enabling industry and the community to reach their decarbonisation goals and expediting the transition to a sustainable energy system.
“The Collie Battery Stage 1 project is a terrific example of this, involving excellent collaboration and innovation between Western Power and Neoen, resulting in an outstanding outcome for the community and the Western Australian energy market.
“Connecting energy solutions that support the harnessing of the abundance of renewable energy resources Western Australia has to offer is critical to unlocking a cleaner energy future.”
Neoen Chariman and CEO, Xavier Barbaro, said, “I would like to congratulate the Neoen team on this great achievement.
“The delivery of Collie Battery Stage 1, ahead of schedule, is a major step for Neoen, demonstrating the speed with which we can develop and deploy solutions into new regions. We are proud to be shaping the grid of the future, for the benefit of industry and consumers across Australia and around the globe.”
