Work has started today on the state's newest and biggest battery – ensuring the Marshall Government will continue to deliver cleaner, cheaper, more reliable power for South Australians.
AGL has today broken ground on its $180 million, 250 MW battery at Torrens Island, which will form part of the Torrens Island Energy Hub to help support renewable energy generation in South Australia.
Minister for Energy and Mining Dan van Holst Pellekaan welcomed the start of work on the battery and the benefits it will bring to the state's energy system.
"AGL's Torrens Island battery has 66 per cent more power and 25 per cent more storage than the now expanded big battery at Hornsdale," Mr van Holst Pellekaan said.
"This project was assisted by a fast-tracked planning process by the Marshall Government to provide vital grid security benefits and help accelerate South Australia's transition to net 100 per cent renewable energy generation by 2030.
"AGL's investment is another step on South Australia's journey towards net-100 per cent renewable energy generation by 2030 and the thousands of jobs that transition will generate.
"It's great to see AGL investing in new storage assets to add further stability to our electricity grid.
"At the last election the Marshall team made a commitment to deliver cleaner, more affordable and more reliable power – and we are delivering on this promise.
"Due to the Marshall Government's strong plan to fix the grid, over a three day period last week we set a new world record by producing 91% renewable energy. Unless you fix the grid, you can't achieve numbers like that.
"AGL's will be the fifth grid-scale battery in South Australia delivering more reliable, more affordable energy and there are more big batteries in the pipeline.
"Our policies of increased interconnection, support for home and grid scale battery programs, has helped drive down the average household electricity bill by $303 since we came to government.
"Compare this with the $477 increase in power bills delivered by Peter Malinauskas and the former Labor Government in its disastrous last two years in power.
"And more than 60 per cent of our state's electricity is being generated from renewable sources, without the security issues that plagued the state under Labor.
"It's great to see construction kick off on AGL's Torrens Island battery, with this and other grid-scale storage only helping to make energy for South Australians even cleaner, more affordable and more reliable."
