AGL Energy Limited, one of Australia’s leading integrated energy companies, has selected Wärtsilä as one of the two suppliers for their up to 1,000 MW grid-scale energy storage plans. Wärtsilä has signed a non-exclusive five-year Large Scale Storage System Frame Agreement to supply energy storage projects in partnership with AGL. This agreement will reduce tender timeframes for individual projects, enabling faster project schedules and commercial operation. In addition to its state-of-the-art energy storage and energy management systems, Wärtsilä’s full engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) capabilities were among the reasons for AGL to choose Wärtsilä as an energy storage technology partner.

In 2020, AGL announced plans to develop energy storage installations near the Loy Yang A power station in Victoria (200 MW), Liddell power station (150 MW) and Broken Hill (50 MW) in New South Wales and Torrens Island (250 MW) in South Australia. The grid-scale energy storage plans will play a key role in Australian energy industry’s transition from traditional fossil fuels towards cleaner energy.

“We are investing in the highest standards for energy storage technology performance, reliability and safety. Therefore, we are looking for global leaders in energy storage technologies, such as Wärtsilä,” said Markus Brokhof, Chief Operating Officer, AGL Energy Limited. “We’re excited to see our grid-scale energy storage plans begin to come to life; we know energy storage technology is critical in creating a cleaner and smarter distributed energy infrastructure.”

“Australia is a country with unparalleled renewable energy resources and a unique opportunity to swiftly decarbonise and move towards renewable energy. Flexible capacity such as energy storage will be needed to balance renewables and keep the grid stable and reliable. AGL is a valued customer for Wärtsilä and we look forward to supporting AGL’s plans for critical firming capacity that will play a leading role in the energy transition from coal to renewables. Our smart technology helps to maintain system strength, network stability and energy security,” said Kari Punnonen, Director, Australasia, Wärtsilä Energy.

In 2018, AGL and Wärtsilä signed an EPC contract for the Barker Inlet Power Station (BIPS), a new power plant located on Torrens Island near Adelaide. The main role of BIPS is to ensure reliability in the renewable-heavy South Australian power system by providing balancing capacity to manage the variability from renewables. In addition to flexible engine power plants, such as BIPS, energy storage will play a key role in balancing renewables. Storage can take care of short duration balancing, whilst the flexible engine power plants can balance renewables for a longer duration.