Endeavour Energy is using West Dapto as the test site for a method of storing energy.
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In what is a first for the company, it has put out a tender for a one megawatt hour battery storage system.
It is now going through the responses with a view to installing it at the site of its West Dapto zone substation.
The system will store power for later use, rather than generating power every time customers need it.
“With more home solar systems being installed, energy storage is important in enabling renewable energy to be saved for use when customers need it the most,” Endeavour Energy’s General Manager Asset Management Ty Christopher said.
He said it could also “reduce peak demand and improve the quality of electricity supply in constrained parts of our network.”
The battery will delay the need to build the zone substation by several years.
When it is eventually built, the substation will provide power to 27,000 new homes in West Dapto.
If the trial is a success, similar battery storage systems could be installed elsewhere in the Illawarra.