Technology group Wärtsilä has been selected by Origin Energy  to deliver the second stage of the Eraring battery facility at Origin’s Eraring Power Station in New South Wales, Australia. Wärtsilä will add 240 megawatts  / 1030 megawatt hours  during stage two and will bring the facility’s total capacity to 700 MW / 2103 MWh. Origin selected Wärtsilä for stage one of the project in Q2 2023 and it is currently in the delivery process.

“With this new order, Wärtsilä highly appreciates Origin’s continued trust in our capability to execute energy storage facilities of this magnitude. We are proud to support Origin’s decarbonisation goals with this industry-leading project,” says Andrew Tang, Vice President of Energy Storage & Optimisation at Wärtsilä.

The stage two battery energy storage system will operate in Virtual Synchronous Machine (VISMA) mode, enabling short circuit current capabilities such as reactive current, droop control, and synthetic inertia, to support grid stability and security. These capabilities, known as system strength support services, will be facilitated by Wärtsilä’s intelligent energy management system, the GEMS Digital Energy Platform.

Stage two will be built with Wärtsilä’s Quantum High Energy (QuantumHE), a next-generation energy storage system with advanced safety features and energy density. QuantumHE provides increased energy density while lowering equipment costs, expediting the development process and reducing maintenance requirements. Wärtsilä is also providing a long-term service agreement (LTSA) to Origin for the supplied equipment.

Construction on stage two of the battery facility will begin in early 2025 and is expected to be completed at the beginning of 2027. Wärtsilä is currently in the process of delivering the first stage of the Eraring battery, totalling 460 MW / 1073 MWh, which is expected to reach commercial operation at the end of 2025.