Gannawarra Energy Storage System (GESS) is a grid-connected

energy storage system Energy storage is the capture of energy produced at one time for use at a later time to reduce imbalances between energy demand and energy production. A device that stores energy is generally called an accumulator or battery. Energy comes in ...

adjacent to the

Gannawarra Solar Farm Gannawarra Solar Farm is a photovoltaic solar power station in the Gannawarra Shire, west of Kerang in the Australian state of Victoria. It generates up to 60 MW electricity and exports up to 50.61 MW to the National Electricity Marke ...

in Wandella in the

Shire of Gannawarra The Shire of Gannawarra is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the northern part of the state. It covers an area of and, in June 2018 had a population of 10,547. It includes the towns of Cohuna, Kerang, Koondrook, Leitch ...

, 14km west of

Kerang Kerang is a rural town on the Loddon River in northern Victoria in Australia. It is the commercial centre to an irrigation district based on livestock, horticulture, lucerne and grain. It is located north-west of Melbourne on the Murray V ...

. The Gannawarra Energy Storage System was partially funded by grants from the

Australian Renewable Energy Agency The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is an independent agency of the Australian federal government, established in 2012 to manage Australia's renewable energy programs, with the objective of increasing supply and competitiveness of A ...

and the

Victorian Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive, the judicial, and th ...

. It is owned by

Wirsol WIRSOL Solar AG () is an international solar energy provider, specialized in the planning, financing, construction and maintenance of solar power plants of any size. The headquarters of the company is in Germany. Further company offices are locat ...

and Edify Energy and operated by

EnergyAustralia EnergyAustralia (formerly TRUenergy) is an electricity generation, electricity and gas retailing private company in Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based and listed China Light and Power (CLP Group). EnergyAustralia also ...

. The batteries were provided by

Tesla, Inc. Tesla, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Tesla designs and manufactures electric vehicles (electric cars and trucks), battery energy storage from home to grid- ...

and

Engineering, procurement and construction Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts (a type of turnkey contract) are a form of contract used to undertake construction works by the private sector on large-scale and complex infrastructure projects. Overview Under an EPC co ...

was provided by

RCR Tomlinson RCR Tomlinson was one of Australia's largest multi-disciplined infrastructure, resource and engineering companies with a reputation for delivering high quality mining technologies. History In 1898, Tomlinson Bros was founded as an engineering co ...

. It helps to ease the demand on a constrained transmission line and balances higher levels of renewable energy on the grid. It first exported electricity to the grid in October 2018.

References

{{Energy in Victoria Energy storage projects