Australia to have world's largest solar energy storage plant

Australia will have the world’s largest solar energy storage plant, with 1.1 million batteries. The project also combines storage and capture, so it includes installation of up to 3.4 million photovoltaic solar panels which could be commissioned before the end of the year in Riverland, in the south-east of the country.

This initiative will significantly increase the availability of renewable energy in Australia, as will incorporate into the system up to 330 MW (megawatts) and will allow the storage of about 100 MW of solar energy.

The private Australian firm Lyon Group, which has a division specializing in solar energy, is the promoter of this plant. investment is estimated at $ 1,000 million. This amount will come entirely from private hands, after Magnetar Group, an American investment group, agreed to fund large-scale solar energy projects planned in Australia.

The plant construction will start in the coming months on private land in Riverland, an area approximately 200 kilometers from the country’s fifth largest city, Adelaide, and is not the only one the Lyon Group has in mind in Australia.

In fact, months ago the group of companies announced another huge solar power plant at Roxby Downs, a mining area also located in southern Australia. The construction of these facilities is planned in two phases which should be completed before the end of 2017.

The intention of the Lyon Group for this second project It is the incorporation of panels connected to the electrical network to provide a minimum of 100 MW. To this will be added, as in the case of Riverland, storage facilities of between 100 and 200 MWh (megawatts per hour).

These projects were announced just as South Australian authorities have launched a public offer for an installation capable of storing at least 100 MW of clean energy. Several companies are expected to present their offers, including Carnegie, Tesla or the Lyon group itself. Before revealing to whom the project is assigned, the business group made sure that the decision would not impact the construction of the factories in Riverland and Roxby Downs.

Projects that make Australia one of the countries with the best projection in terms of renewable energies. They add green energy and eliminate highly polluting energies, in the event that one of the most polluting coal-fired power stations in the world closes.