Neoen Breaks Ground on World’s First Tesla Megablock Battery in South Australia

Neoen Australia begins building 226MW Goyder battery, world’s first using Tesla Megablock, advancing clean energy and powering BHP’s Olympic Dam.

In South Australia, Neoen Australia has started constructing a massive battery project. This project will be the first in the world to use the company's next generation of grid-scale battery technology, the Tesla Megablock.

The new battery, the 226-megawatt, 866-megawatt-hour Goyder battery, is already a major project because it supports a historic contract to supply power to BHP's massive Olympic Dam mining operations, along with the nearby wind farm.

In 2017, Neoen, which is still Australia's most successful builder and operator of battery storage projects, began working with Tesla on the world's first large-scale battery at Hornsdale in South Australia.

Additionally, it was the first to install grid-forming inverters on a large scale at the same location, which are now regarded as a crucial component of the switch from coal to clean energy due to the vital system services they can provide.

In September, Tesla introduced its Megapack product, which combines four Megapack 3 units with an integrated transformer and switchgear into a single deployable block that offers 20 MWh units.

The energy transition has been greatly impacted by the falling cost of battery storage, especially in Australia. As solar-battery hybrid projects gain recognition and wind and battery hybrids soon follow, construction projections have completely changed.

With the 315 MW Hornsdale wind farm, the 412.5 MW Goyder South wind farm, and the 300 MW Goyder North wind project, Neoen is a major contributor to South Australia's goal of becoming entirely net renewable by 2027. In addition, it runs the Blyth and Hornsdale batteries and is currently developing the Goyder battery.

With two momentous baseload clean energy contracts, Neoen will provide seventy percent of the electricity required by BHP's Olympic Dam mining province. Goyder South and Blyth will supply one 70 MW component, while Goyder North and the Goyder battery will supply an additional 100 MW.