Wärtsilä has been selected by Origin Energy to deliver the third stage of the Eraring battery facility at Origin’s Eraring Power Station in New South Wales, Australia. With this agreement, Wärtsilä is to connect an additional 700 MWh of energy storage capacity directly to the Eraring Stage 1 system. This project brings the Eraring facility’s total capacity to 700 MW/2 800 MWh, making it the largest battery project in Australia and one of the largest in the world.
The Eraring battery will connect to Australia’s National Electricity Market, enhancing energy security and reliability in New South Wales as renewable energy supply increases. With this extension, the Eraring 1 facility will double the length of time it can store energy.
A critical aspect of the system is Wärtsilä’s GEMS digital energy platform, which monitors and controls the flow of energy, enabling facilities like Eraring to provide grid support during periods of instability. GEMS will provide firming capacity to balance Origin’s generation portfolio in support of its retail customer load.
Wärtsilä has worked closely with Origin to meet stringent noise requirements for the site, resulting in a site-specific noise solution. Wärtsilä will also provide a long-term service agreement to Origin for the supplied equipment
Stages 1 and 3 will operate in grid-following mode, with the potential to switch operation into grid-forming in the future, providing the capability to supply a variety of system strength and system restart ancillary services. Stage 2 will operate in grid-forming mode at the time of commercial operation.
Completion of Stage 3 is expected alongside Stage 1 at the end of 2025. Stage 2 is expected to come online at the start of 2027. Wärtsilä’s energy storage portfolio in Australia now exceeds 3.3 GWh.
