Victoria’s battery storage tender has attracted some 110 proposals, outstripping even the extraordinary response to the rival tender in South Australia.
Officials confirmed the tender numbers last week, with more than two-thirds of the proposals being considered “credible”.
The call for expressions of interest was for a 20MW/80MWh battery storage array to be built in western Victoria, at a site with a “weak network” and expanding renewable energy capacity.
Another EOI process is being run for a another 80MW of energy storage, with proposals due on April 25. Once those have been processed, and the final configuration narrowed and defined, a dual-track tender process will take place.
That tender is also open to storage providers such as pumped hydro and solar thermal, but the time lines outlined by Victoria appear to rule these out of contention.
The Victorian tender is happening at the same time as the South Australian tender for 100MW/100MWh of battery storage (with varying configurations also welcome). The initial phase closed last Friday and on Monday the state energy minister revealed that 90 proposals had been received from 10 different countries.
About one dozen of those proposals have been identified, but many more are sailing under the horizon. Tesla, Kokam and LG Chem have all reported multiple proposals that they are involved with, without specifying any details.
Victoria is putting $25 million towards its tender for 100MW of storage, while South Australia is putting up to $15 to $20 million, and may also write contracts to provide “firm” output at critical points.
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