Australia has officially launched the Waratah Super Battery, the world’s most powerful battery by output. Located on the site of the former Munmorah coal-fired power station on the Central Coast of New South Wales, this massive battery is part of the country’s clean energy shift.
It is operated by Akaysha Energy, a subsidiary of BlackRock, and is designed to help stabilize Australia’s electricity grid as coal plants shut down in the coming years. Currently, the Waratah Super Battery delivers 350 megawatts of power. Once fully operational by the end of 2025, it will deliver up to 850 megawatts and store 1,680 megawatt-hours of energy.
That’s enough to supply electricity to nearly one million homes for an hour. The battery’s main role is to act as a “shock absorber,” helping to prevent blackouts by instantly balancing the grid when there are sudden power changes or equipment failures.
The Waratah Super Battery is part of the System Integrity Protection Scheme (SIPS), a government-led program created to ensure grid reliability as Australia transitions away from coal. SIPS is especially important as the country sees more and more rooftop solar panels generating power during the day.
Batteries like Waratah store extra solar energy and release it when it’s needed, helping to make energy use more stable and efficient. Hannah McCaughey, the CEO of EnergyCo, which oversees the project for the New South Wales government, said, “This is the first of our projects to go into operation, and there are many more to come.”
Nick Carter, the CEO of Akaysha Energy, said, “Batteries are now more important than ever to stabilise the grid,” he said. Despite facing challenges like bad weather delays during construction and financial troubles with their battery supplier, Powin, Akaysha Energy remains confident about it and is already looking forward to more battery projects across Australia.
The battery also helps move more electricity through the current grid without needing to build new transmission lines. It can monitor 36 transmission lines across New South Wales in real time and react instantly to avoid overloads.
This means cities like Sydney, Newcastle, and Wollongong can receive more energy without putting extra strain on the system. By doing this, it reduces the need to waste clean energy or shut down solar production during high-output periods. Ahmad Ebadi, a senior project manager at Transgrid, shared, “The battery system monitors 36 transmission lines in real time across NSW, detects overloading and responds in seconds to increase generation,” he said.
The battery is already helping to lower electricity prices by improving the use of existing infrastructure and reducing reliance on coal. According to Dylan McConnell, an energy systems expert at the University of New South Wales, “By increasing the utilisation of your existing transmission network, you can actually reduce the need to build more transmission in the future.” He added that this could result in lower electricity prices in the long term.
The Waratah Super Battery will reserve 700 megawatts of its capacity for emergency use during the day in summer. That means it will always be ready to step in if there is a risk of blackout from events like bushfires, lightning strikes, or technical failures.
New South Wales Energy Minister Penny Sharpe called the battery a vital part of the state’s clean energy future. “As it comes online, it will help power our homes and businesses while stabilising the grid to avoid blackouts,” she said.
Anna Freeman from the Clean Energy Council also praised the project. She said the battery could store as much energy as half of the Eraring coal-fired power station, which is one of the largest in the country. “It plays a pivotal role in ensuring that NSW can push ahead with confidence to a future powered by renewables,” she said.
Tim Buckley, the director of Climate Energy Finance, said the battery would help reduce energy costs by supporting more solar and wind projects. “It will help more wind and solar and firming capacity into the grid, all of which means we will see electricity prices stabilise and then progressively, hopefully come down over time,” he explained.
