New Zealand’s First Big Battery Project of 200MWh & Solar Farm in Offing From TotalEnergies

Saft to build New Zealand's battery project

Saft, a subsidiary of French energy major, TotalEnergies, has bagged a project to establish New Zealand’s first big grid-connected battery. Saft was contending against Tesla and Fluence for the 100MW and 200MWh Ruakākā battery contract, which is worth $NZ186 million.

The formal announcement for the project came in December 2022 from Meridian, which is the electricity firm of New Zealand. It is being held that the project will yield revenues worth $NZ35 million a year. The profits from it are estimated at $NZ30 million annually.

The Ruakākā battery will be established adjacent to a terminal for fuel import on North Island (one of the two main islands of New Zealand), and an electricity sub-station. In another major development for the energy industry of the country, the project will also be followed by a farm of 130 MW. This will be New Zealand’s biggest solar farm.

Meridian has said that shared resources such as infrastructure will help bring down the cost of solar farm by approximately $NZ20/MWh. Chief Executive at Meridian, Neal Barclay, further stated that the storage system will open doors to various new revenue streams for the firm, while also making it possible to load shift between price periods and enable it to also participate in the North Island reserve electricity market. He added, “As intermittent renewable generation increases in New Zealand, this BESS will help manage supply fluctuations and reduce this country’s reliance on fossil fuels. We have a bold vision for Ruakākā, with a grid-scale solar farm planned to further speed up our transition to a low carbon economy. The shared infrastructure provided by the BESS will significantly improve the economics of the future solar farm.”

The scope of the contract bagged by Saft includes battery and power conversion equipment, installation, commissioning and operational services for a period of 20 years.

The system will kickstart operations in the second half of 2024.