The business case for battery storage in Australia has been given a major boost with proposed new rules that would reward the technology for its ultra fast response to disturbances on the grid and the key role it can play in keeping the lights on. Wind and solar farms will also benefit from the draft rules on fast frequency response drawn up by the Australian Energy Market Commission, which signal a significant evolution in the grid as regulators and rule-makers accept that new inverter based technologies can and will replace the services offered by traditional synchronous generators.

The ability of battery storage to respond at hitherto unimagined speed to help keep the lights on has been apparent since the original Tesla big battery at Hornsdale in South Australia first began operations in late 2017, and quickly intervened to help manage the unexpected trip of one of the country’s biggest coal generators. That intervention, and the speed, accuracy and flexibility demonstrated by battery storage in many events since, has […]