Issue link: http://resourceworld.uberflip.com/i/937377
92 www.resourceworld.com F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 1 8 clean wind energy can be siphoned to the grid continuously, improving the system's reliability, whether the wind is blowing or not. The 100 megawatt (MW) battery farm has enough stor- age capacity to potentially power more than 30,000 homes for eight hours or 60,000 homes for four hours. South Australia has been crippled by energy problems, and suffered a state-wide blackout last September. That event sparked a highly politicized debate about energy security, with the Federal Government blam- ing renewable energy failure to cover use, while others pointed to transmission lines and towers toppling over because of severe weather. The launch comes after a regulatory testing period that exam- ined the battery's ability to charge to and from Australia's National Energy Market (NEM) and act as a generator. The NEM operates 40,000 km of transmission lines and cables around Australia. The powerpacks are manufactured at Tesla's Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada and used in partnership with Neoen, a renew- able energy company headquartered in Paris, France. Neoen's Hornsdale wind farm is located near Jamestown, about 200 km north of Adelaide. According to the Hornsdale Power Reserve, the battery takes up less than 10,000 square metres of land. The system reduces intermittency issues and manages increased demand during summer peak loading periods. "The completion of the world's largest lithium-ion battery in record time shows that a sustainable, effective energy solution is possible," Tesla said in a statement. "We are proud to be part of South Australia's renewable energy future, and hope this project provides a model for future deployments around the world." Challenging Tesla, Hyundai Electric & Energy Systems Co., Ltd. [267260-KS] has received an order for an industrial energy- storage system, which will be installed by February 2018. The 150-MW system, expected to be the world's largest on delivery, was purchased by Korea Zinc Co., Ltd. [010130-KS] headquar- tered in Seoul, South Korea. The project will cost 50 billion won ($45 million) and will be used at Korea Zinc's Ulsan refinery. The latest order comes as South Korea looks to reduce its reliance on nuclear power and move to renewables. The energy-storage market is expected to grow from 1.3 giga- watts (GW) in 2016 to 4.7 GW in 2020 and 8.8 GW in 2025, according to a report from IHS Markit Technology. IHS antici- pates that the United States will be the largest market for energy storage with 1.2 GW of installations by 2020 and a compound annual growth rate of 21% from 2017 to 2025. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, battery prices have dropped by almost half since 2014, driving industrial con- sumers to line up 1,650 megawatt-hours in lithium-ion battery projects in 2017. As more locales look to leverage renewable energy for power grids, batteries will be the cornerstone of new systems to smooth out electricity supply issues from sources such as wind and solar. n