Australia's Victoria To Build Largest Battery In Southern Hemisphere To Store Green Energy

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th November, 2020) Australia is planning to build one of the world's largest lithium-ion batteries in the state of Victoria to improve environmental situation and decrease electricity bills, Australian Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D'Ambrosio said on Thursday.

"Victoria. You are getting a new battery. One of the biggest in the world, and Australia's biggest by a long shot. It will support our transition to renewables and guard against unplanned power outages. AND reduce power bills," D'Ambrosio wrote on Twitter.

Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews said that the 300-megawatt Tesla battery would be installed near the city of Geelong and start to operate next summer.

This project was endorsed by the leader of the Australian Greens Victoria, Ellen Sandell, who, nevertheless, noted that it falls short of� what is needed by Victoria in order to get rid of coal plants.

"This is good news: the Greens have been campaigning for a big battery & we're so pleased that the Govts has heard our calls. Only thing is: we still use coal for over half our energy in Victoria," Sandell wrote on Twitter.

Back in 2017, Tesla company build an energy storage system in the northern Australian region of Hornsdale. The capacity of this battery is 150 megawatt, which is twice less than of Victoria's battery.