Snowy Hydro 2.0 runs for weeks; approved batteries give hours
Snowy Hydro can run 160 hours on stored water, batteries just eight.
Australia's grid has changed fast. Approved battery projects will add about just 30 gigawatt-hours of storage by 2028, but Snowy Hydro 2.0 alone stores 350 gigawatt-hours, about twelve times more.
Batteries handle daily power swings well, and they've grown so much they now supply more electricity to the evening peak than gas does. Snowy Hydro's real edge is duration: it can run for about 160 hours on stored water, long enough to power 3 million homes for a week.
To match that with batteries would cost far more, since doubling a battery's storage means doubling its cost. The project's $25 billion price tag, twelve times the original estimate, makes experts ask if it still pencils out.
Snowy Hydro is built to run for 150 years, and long-duration storage will always matter in a renewable grid.
- March 2017 by Malcolm Turnbull
- Announcement date
- 500 megawatts, 8 hours supply duration
- Origin Energy battery capacity
- 3.6 gigawatts in battery projects
- AEMO approved batteries
Why it mattersAustralia needs storage that lasts days or weeks, not hours. Only Snowy Hydro can do that at scale without ruinous cost.
AustraliaSnowy Hydro's vast storage will be essential to keep Australian homes powered through long stretches of still, cloudy weather when solar and wind produce little.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 3 h ago
