Saft, a subsidiary of TotalEnergies, has won a major contract to deliver a turnkey, utility-scale battery energy storage system for a site being developed by Genesis Energy Ltd, a New Zealand generation, wholesale, and retail energy company. The 100 MW/200 MWh BESS will be installed at Huntly power station on the country’s North Island.
Genesis is making energy storage an important step in developing a broader range of firming and flexibility assets, known as the Huntly Portfolio, with the ability to respond to hydropower, wind, solar and price volatility, as well as supply disruptions, as the New Zealand market continues to invest in renewables.
“This major contract for Genesis will be Saft’s third utility-scale BESS to support the New Zealand grid”, said Hervé Amossé, Saft EVP, Energy Storage System. New Zealand has committed to reducing its net carbon emissions to 50 % below gross 2005 levels by 2030, in line with the Paris Agreement. It has also passed the Zero Carbon Act which commits the country to be zero carbon by 2050. The Huntly Portfolio is the single largest electricity generation site in New Zealand and plays an important role in the country’s electricity market, currently using gas and coal fired generation, with low carbon fuels planned for the future to support a highly renewable generation fleet.
Saft will engineer the 100 MW/200 MWh Huntly BESS as a complete turnkey solution based on 70 of its Intensium Shift+ lithium-ion battery containers combined with power conversion and control systems. It is planned to come online in the third quarter of 2026.
