ARENA plans USD 72m in backing for grid-scale battery projects

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced a AUD-100-million (USD 72.3m/EUR 63.9m) competitive funding round for grid-scale batteries featuring advanced inverters to support the grid.

The funding round will open for expressions of interest on February 1 and close on March 31, 2022. It will finance at least three battery energy storage projects of not less than 70 MW each with a grant of up to AUD 35 million. In any case, the selected batteries should be equipped with advanced inverters and operate in the National Electricity Market or Western Australia’s Wholesale Electricity Market.

ARENA said in a statement that with this move it seeks to incentivise and derisk private sector investment and overcome barriers to the deployment of advanced inverters.

“This funding round will demonstrate the role of advanced inverters in grid scale batteries to provide system stability, facilitating a more efficient transition and accelerate the uptake of renewable generation,” said Darren Miller, CEO of ARENA.

(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.723/EUR 0.639)

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!