New Zealand Auckland Energy Storage Power Station Planning Project

Where is New Zealand's biggest planned battery energy storage system?

Image: Vector Energy Development approvals have been granted for New Zealand’s biggest planned battery energy storage system (BESS) to date. The 100MW battery storage project is in development by electricity generator and retailer Meridian Energy at Ruākākā on New Zealand’s North Island. The site is adjacent to Marsden Point, a former oil refinery.

What is the NZ battery project?

The NZ Battery Project was set up in 2020 to explore possible renewable energy storage solutions for when our hydro lakes run low for long periods. A pumped hydro scheme at Lake Onslow was one of the options being explored. The Government stopped the Lake Onslow investigations in late 2023.

Which energy company is building New Zealand's first grid-connected battery energy storage system?

Meridian Energy is building New Zealand’s first large-scale grid-connected battery energy storage system (BESS) at Ruakākā on North Island Paris, January 10, 2023 – Saft, a subsidiary of TotalEnergies, has been awarded a major contract by Meridian Energy to construct New Zealand’s first large-scale grid-connected BESS.

What is New Zealand's first megawatt-scale battery storage system?

The country’s first megawatt-scale battery storage system is thought to have been a 1MW/2.3MWh project completed in 2016 using the Tesla Powerpack, Tesla’s first iteration of an industrial and grid-scale BESS solution. However the first BESS to be connected to the high-voltage transmission grid in New Zealand came two years after that.

Will Contact Energy build a 100-megawatt battery plant in South Auckland?

Contact Energy and Tesla are collaborating to build a similar 100-megawatt plant at Glenbrook in South Auckland. Contact Energy chief executive Mike Fuge expects more projects along the lines of its new battery project in South Auckland to soon come to light, now the uncertainty around the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter has been resolved.

How will a battery storage system benefit New Zealand?

The battery storage will help to reduce these events by smoothing the distribution of supply and demand,” Knott said. The system will charge with cheap energy during off-peak hours and send it back to the grid at times of high demand. It will also enable more power generated on New Zealand’s South Island to be utilised in the north.