Shell Energy and Macquarie Asset Management’s Green Investment Group (GIG) have announced plans to build a battery energy storage system (BESS) to add to their expanding energy storage portfolio in Australia. The Rangebank battery project is located on two hectares of land within the Rangebank Business Park in the city of Cranbourne, southeast Melbourne, Victoria. It will provide flexible and reliable energy to support the integration of renewable energy sources into the grid and help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Shell and GIG have partnered on the Rangebank BESS that will have 200 MW/400 MWh of energy, with the capacity to store up the equivalent of 80,000 homes across Victoria for an hour during peak periods.
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According to the bosses
Shell Energy
To Shell Energy Australia’s Country Chair, Greg Joiner, the Rangebank battery is an important addition to Shell’s energy storage portfolio. He also expressed excitement about working with GIG to increase reliability for Victoria’s energy consumers.
“The Rangebank project is our first grid-scale battery investment in Victoria and marks Shell’s first direct equity investment in a utility-scale BESS globally”
Located in one of Melbourne’s fastest-growing population centres, the Rangebank BESS will help to stabilise Victoria’s state electricity supply by providing additional storage capacity which can be discharged at times of peak demand.”
GIG
A quote from Greg Callman of Global Head of Energy Technology, GIG:
“Grid-scale batteries are an essential element in the decarbonisation of the energy sector, and the need for storage solutions is growing rapidly. GIG is delighted to partner with Shell Energy to deliver this project which will help provide communities with reliable and flexible energy.
Perfection Private
The project is also supported by minority equity partner Perfection Private. Chief Executive Officer, Steven Murphy said:
“Perfection Private is delighted to invest with GIG and Shell Energy to deliver the BESS at Rangebank. We are proud to demonstrate that with creative thinking, it can be commercially viable to enable a more sustainable energy future.”
Fluence
Fluence, a leading global provider of energy storage products and services as well as cloud-based software for renewable energy and energy storage, will build, service, and maintain the Rangebank BESS using Fluence’s most recent Gridstack product. According to David Mikaeloff, VP of Sales, APAC, Fluence:
“The Rangebank BESS project is another milestone for Fluence in Australia. We are thrilled to be able to partner with both GIG and Shell Energy Australia to deliver this important project.”
A global battery storage platform called Eku Energy, which GIG founded in 2022 will take over GIG’s involvement in the project. Grid services will be provided by Eku Energy’s 4GWh development pipeline of digitally enabled, adaptable, utility-scale storage projects in important markets throughout the world, including the UK, Australia, Japan, and Taiwan.
Shell’s step towards creating a net-zero world
In a statement aimed at addressing climate change, Shell emphasised the importance of its pledges to have net-zero emissions by 2050. The industry major has pledged to do all reasonable steps to reduce glasshouse gases coming from their own activities in an effort to slow the rise in global temperatures.
Although Rangebank BESS is the first significant battery project to attain financial close, Shell is planning much larger batteries at Wallerewang (500MW/1000MWh), the location of a former coal-fired power station in NSW, as well as a comparable-sized battery at Wellington, which it is constructing alongside Ampyr.
Images: Greenspot – An artist’s impression of an indicative layout for Greenspot’s proposed Wallerawang, NSW
Image: Shell Energy Europe – Power from the 100MW Minety BESS, located in England, is traded by Shell Energy
The addition of the Rangebank battery to Shell’s energy storage portfolio in Australia is a positive step forward in the development of Australia’s renewable energy industry. As Australia works to transition to a more sustainable energy system, the deployment of large-scale energy storage systems like the Rangebank battery will be crucial to ensuring the reliability and stability of the electricity grid.
The Rangebank BESS project is expected to be completed by late 2024, and it will be exciting to see the positive impact it will have on Australia’s energy system and the environment. With initiatives like this, Australia is well on its way to achieving its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
Source&Image: Shell Energy website, Macquarie Asset Management’s Green Investment Group website
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