Tour of the Hazelwood 150MW battery

Australian Community Media

The Hazelwood battery storage system was opened in Latrobe Valley, Victoria, has been in operation since December 2023, and can generate the power of about 30,000 homes for an hour.   Some vision provided by the Climate Council.

Transcript

00:00Big batteries like this one in the Latrobe Valley will be popping up all over regional Australia.

00:07For example this power plant here is 150 megawatts but the Victorian government alone says that in

00:16the next 10 years there's going to be a need for about three and a half thousand megawatts of

00:22storage power. So we're standing here at NG's Hazelwood battery in the Latrobe Valley in

00:27Victoria. This is a 150 megawatt battery and can last for one hour and what that basically means is

00:34it can store the rooftop solar output from about 30,000 average Australian homes. It's a really

00:39interesting site because people, particularly Victorians, will know that the Latrobe Valley is

00:43historically the source of power in the state. It's the site of three big coal mines, the first

00:49of which has been closed here at Hazelwood and historically four big power stations, the first

00:54of which Hazelwood power station was demolished. It's a really interesting site because you can

00:59see what a clean energy future can actually look like. We've now had a coal power station

01:03demolished, we've got a mine that's been currently rehabilitated and here the Hazelwood battery

01:07is the first that was built on the site of a former coal power station. So it gives you an

01:11idea of what the future could look like not only here in the Latrobe Valley but also across

01:14Australia as we move away from coal and towards renewable energy.

01:19The way we get our energy is typically through this transmission line. So this feeds directly

01:28into the Victorian grid. So right now we're probably going to be charging at this time of day and that'll

01:36be basically on a mixture of coal, wind, definitely solar, and a mixture of those combined resources,

01:45what's going to basically be charging the battery itself. Batteries form two key roles. The first

01:52one really is about making sure that the frequency of the grid, the way it basically runs, remains stable.

02:00And then the second very important one is that it's going to basically move the energy that's generated

02:05during the day, like when it's, you know, sunny and there's lots of solar and wind. Store that energy

02:11and then discharge it in the evening when we need it more. Look, it's an exciting time ahead. Lots of

02:22opportunities to develop more batteries. There's potential to develop another one, sort of a sister

02:26site right next door. So very much looking forward to that happening.

02:35You can think about it.

02:37So as Ooh, I'm thinking about that.

02:39All right.

02:41All right.

02:43So, all right.

02:45You're going to take care of your brain.

02:47So that's pretty easy.

02:49All right.

02:50So that's a big deal.

02:52I'm thinking about making sure that the frequency of theatribe and the thrust of the

02:55power of the Alabamas.

02:57So you can see that there's a big deal.

03:00Now, it's just a big deal.

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