An American firm often described as ‘the most powerful company you’ve never heard of’ is taking a very big interest in Australia’s transition to renewable energy.
The world’s largest investor BlackRock, which manages about $9trillion worth of assets, has raised $500million to build the Waratah Super Battery at Lake Munmorah in NSW.
The firm considers Australia one of the most desirable locations to invest in clean electricity as the government pushes to ditch fossil fuels by 2030 despite a huge shortfall in green infrastructure, like wind and solar power, to replace it.
The world’s largest investment firm BlackRock is taking a big interest in Australia’s transition to renewable power
Coal currently provides about two-thirds of Australia’s electricity but the Albanese government wants to make the grid 82 per cent powered by renewables within seven years.
Blackrock acquired Australian firm Akaysha Energy in 2022 which is pursuing several mega-battery projects including The Waratah Super Battery, set to be built on the site of Australia’s largest coal-fired station, Erraring, when it closes as early as 2025.
Charlie Reid, BlackRock Asia-Pacific’s co-head of climate infrastructure, told The Sydney Morning Herald Australia was going through one of the ‘most aggressive’ renewable power transitions in the world.
‘We see significant opportunities for battery storage, significant opportunities for small-scale solar, we do see opportunities in offshore wind, and we do see attractive opportunities emerging in green hydrogen, those are going to take longer,’ he said.
The Waratah Super Battery, BlackRock is co-funding with is designed as a ‘shock absorber’ that would be able to power the grid for about two hours when it experiences disruptions from lightning strikes or bushfires.
The Waratah Super Battery will be built by BlackRock using Powin equipment (pictured is another of Powin’s mega-batteries)
The government’s Capacity Investment Scheme announced in December is encouraging more projects to be built that would store electricity to provide the grid with a buffer for when wind and solar aren’t producing.
The scheme will unlock up to $10billion in funds to underwrite projects developed by private investors.
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen this week launched the scheme in NSW where its set to provide 550 megawatts of power to cover a forecast shortfall from 2028.
‘This will drastically improve energy security with large-scale batteries and other zero-emission technology that can quickly dispatch cleaner, cheaper renewable energy when it’s needed,’ he said.
BlackRock has about two gigawatts of battery projects in its pipeline with offshore wind farms the likely next step.
Chris Bowan also this week announced a proposed offshore wind farm zone stretching for about 200km off the coast of Victoria and South Australia.
Bowen said the zone could provide electricity for up to 8.4 million homes, and provide 3000 jobs during the building phase and another 3000 permanent roles.
‘Powering these South Australian and Victorian communities with cheaper, cleaner energy will support them to unlock new regional job opportunities in energy and manufacturing,’ he said.
Offshore wind farms are set to also be soon built in Australia with the Star of the South steaming ahead (pictured is a wind farm in Denmark)
Other offshore wind farm zones are already being investigated including near the Gippsland, Illawarra, northern Tasmania, Perth and Hunter regions.
The Star of the South project near Gippsland is the most advanced, which BlackRock is not involved with.
The offshore wind farms will be located no closer than 10km to shore and are seen as less politically tricky as the highly visible land based counterparts.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk