Renewable energy and storage developer Neoen has begun construction on the 164 MW/905 MWh Muchea battery energy storage system (BESS) in Western Australia, which will connect to Western Power’s Muchea substation within the South-West Interconnected System (SWIS) (Australia). The project, supported by a Capacity Investment Scheme agreement with the Australian government, is Neoen’s first six-hour long-duration storage asset and aims to enhance grid stability and reliability.
This follows the recent completion of Neoen’s 341 MW/1,363 MWh second stage of the Collie Battery project in the state’s southwest. Since October 1, Collie Battery Stage 2 has been providing 300 MW/1.2 GWh (4-hour grid capacity under a two-year contract with the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), addressing challenges related to coal-fired power plant retirements, high rooftop solar penetration, and rising energy demand. Combined with Stage 1 (219 MW/877 MWh), Collie is Australia’s largest operational battery, with a total capacity of 560 MW/2,240 MWh—enough to charge or discharge about 20% of the SWIS’s average demand.
Neoen is owned by the Canadian global asset management firm Brookfield.