Giant batteries are getting even bigger in Australia as coal exit nears [Video]

Developers of giant batteries designed to smooth Australia’s shift from coal to cleaner power are attracting unprecedented global financing deals to start installing even bigger systems across the country.

Grid-scale batteries, with near-zero start-up time, are considered critical to the green energy transition because of their ability to soak up surplus renewable energy in the daytime and use it to plug gaps in supply and stabilise the system at times of low wind and sunlight.

Most of the batteries installed so far across the country exhaust their stored energy within one to two hours of output and are mainly used to supply urgent discharges to maintain system frequency.

Akaysha Energy, owned by US wealth management behemoth BlackRock, yesterday secured $650 million from …