More Mega Batteries For WA To Power Homes Day And Night

West Australian households and businesses will soon have access to more cheap, clean, renewable energy that will be stored in four new big batteries due to be switched on by October 2027.

The Albanese Government has announced the Boddington Giga Battery, Merredin Big Battery, Muchea Battery and Waroona Renewable Energy Project have successfully bid for support in WA's first tender under the Capacity Investment Scheme.

The projects are scheduled to be operational no later than October 2027 and will supply Western Australia's grid with an extra 654MW of capacity, capable of discharging the equivalent of nearly 2,600 megawatt hours of energy.

This means the batteries can charge from clean, cheap, renewable energy during the day and be used during the evening peak to power more than 600,000 households for up to four hours, before being recharged the following day.

The four projects will create hundreds of construction and operation jobs, and have a lasting positive impact on their regions.

The tender, launched in September 2024, was originally designed to bring on 500MW of new storage projects in the state. Assessment criteria included the project's ability to reduce the wholesale cost of electricity, and boost reliability across the state's Wholesale Electricity Market.

Interest from developers was exceptionally strong, with initial bids for projects to deliver nearly seven times more capacity than tendered, resulting in the Government being able to secure more storage than originally planned.

Proponents will deliver $145 million in community benefits, $41.5 million in benefits to First Nations groups, spend more than $712 million on local content, and bring a $63.5 million boost to local employment including through funding for locally-based vocational education and training programs and commitments to employ local apprentices.

This West Australian tender follows successful tenders in the eastern states, including two pilot dispatchable capacity tenders and one renewable generation tender supporting 6.4GW of new solar and wind projects and 1GW of new storage.

The projects are part of the Albanese Government's Reliable Renewables Plan to bring on enough of the cheapest form of energy and storage quickly, to meet growing demand from households and businesses, and replace Australia's aging, increasingly unreliable and expensive coal fleet as it retires.

On average about a third of the WEM already comes from cheap, clean, reliable renewables, with a record breaking peak last year of more than 84 per cent.

The next WA tender for generation and storage is scheduled for mid-year, with consultation now open for feedback on tender design, at:

https://www.dcceew.gov.au/about/news/consultation-open-cis-wa-tender-design

Comments from Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen:

"The Albanese Government's plan is working - renewable investment into our energy grid is at record levels. Now we're seeing investors and developers outcompeting each other for the chance to deliver even more of the cheapest form of energy for Western Australia this decade.

"Peter Dutton wants to stop the renewable rollout, and squander Australia's natural advantages the sun and wind resources that are the envy of the world.

"Instead, Peter Dutton will cut critical services to fund a $600 billion nuclear scheme, and extend aging, unreliable coal fired power stations for decades with Australians paying the price with higher bills and reduced reliability."