AGL celebrates commissioning milestone for the Liddell Battery

AGL today celebrated the beginning of commissioning the 500 MW 2-hour grid-scale Liddell Battery at AGL’s Hunter Energy Hub in NSW.

Construction of the battery, which sits next to the closed Liddell Power Station, is complete, with commissioning of the first 250 MW underway, and the battery expected to slowly ramp up to full commercial operations by June 2026. Commissioning involves progressively testing battery performance and grid dispatch. This is a staged process that generally takes several months.

Speaking at the commissioning event, AGL Managing Director and CEO, Damien Nicks, said the milestone marks another important step in the transformation of the former Liddell Power Station site into AGL’s vision for an industrial energy hub.

“In April 2023 we closed Liddell Power Station after 50 years of operation with a celebration of the people of Liddell and the contribution that the power station made to the Hunter region and Australia’s energy system,” he said.

“Three years on I am proud to stand here today, to celebrate the commissioning of the Liddell Battery as the first major development in our plans to repurpose this site.

“This battery will deliver important firming storage for the energy system which is increasingly needed as coal exits the market, and the percentage of renewable generation increases.”

Once fully operational, the Liddell Battery will play an important role in providing storage capacity and supporting system stability in the National Electricity Market (NEM). This battery will join AGL’s expanding portfolio of grid-scale batteries, including the 250 MW Torrens Island Battery, the 50 MW Broken Hill Battery, and the under-construction 500 MW Tomago Battery.

AGL Chief Operations and Construction Officer, Matthew Currie, said completing construction and entering the commissioning phase was a major achievement for the project team and AGL’s construction partner, Fluence Energy.

“Completing construction on a project of this scale is a testament to the capability of our teams and our construction partner, Fluence Energy. More than 600 workers have contributed to the construction and commissioning of this battery,” he said.

“Commissioning is a complex, time intensive, and essential part of delivering a grid-scale battery to the market that operates safely and effectively. Careful testing of dispatch into the grid and integration into AGL’s portfolio will continue over the coming months to ensure it operates safely and reliably in line with system requirements.”

This battery project has been supported by both a $35 million grant awarded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) as part of its Advancing Renewables Program and a Long-Term Energy Service Agreement (LTESA), awarded by ASL as part of the NSW Roadmap.

AGL continues to progress the transformation of the Liddell site as part of its vision to create an integrated energy hub with a grid-scale battery, and potential partners in materials recovery and recycling, low carbon fuels and data centres all under consideration.