Waratah Super Battery powers up at Munmorah

The Southern Hemisphere’s largest network battery will be built at the site of the old Lake Munmorah Power Station.

Treasurer and Minister for Energy Matt Kean announced the decision in early October saying that the Waratah Super Battery will act as a “shock absorber” for the electricity grid.

The Waratah Super Battery will be the biggest network battery anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere,” said Mr Kean.

The Waratah battery, which is sized at 700MW and two hours of storage, is primarily focused on expanding network capacity and will act as a “shock absorber” that will allow more power to be delivered to major demand centres.

The announcement comes after Origin Energy gave notice in February of the proposed closure of its Eraring power station in August 2025.

The project was granted Critical State Significant Infrastructure status earlier this year.

Construction is expected to begin in early 2023 and to be completed by mid-2025 in advance of Eraring’s earliest closure date.

The Waratah Super Battery will be connected to the grid by Transgrid, following $150 million in upgrades and $30 million for a control system, to ensure energy security following closure of the Eraring Power Station.

“The Waratah Super Battery will drive up to $1 billion in private investment in new energy storage and associated network