The Hornsdale Power Reserve big battery developed by Neoen Australia is expected to become the first big battery in the world to deliver grid-scale inertia services, using Tesla’s Virtual Machine Mode technology.
The 150MW/193.5MWh facility has recently received the go-ahead from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), allowing it to provide this innovative service to the National Electricity Market (NEM) in South Australia.
System inertia is a form of energy stored in electricity-producing generators comprised of spinning parts, which rotate at the right frequency to balance supply and demand, spinning faster or slower as needed.
Although system inertia is key to the stability of grids, as it caters for these supply and demand imbalances, in recent years it has become increasingly difficult to maintain with the influx of intermittent wind and solar power and the retirement of coal-fired plants.
Inertia has traditionally been provided by gas or...