Hornsdale Power Reserve (2017)
South Australia's 100 MW / 129 MWh 'Tesla big battery' began operating in December 2017, built in under 100 days. It was the largest lithium-ion battery in the world at the time and was contracted to provide grid stability services.
The battery quickly proved its value, responding to grid frequency events in milliseconds and reducing grid stabilization costs.
It demonstrated that grid-scale batteries could reliably provide frequency control and other services, paving the way for the current wave of large battery projects across Australia.
Hornsdale showed the technical and market viability of grid-scale batteries in Australia. Teebar is a much larger project built on that foundation, with the Capacity Investment Scheme providing revenue support that Hornsdale lacked.
