AGL gets greenlight for Liddell battery in push away from coal

Liddell power station. (Image courtesy of AGL Energy).

AGL Energy Ltd., Australia’s top source of scope one greenhouse gas emissions, has received planning approval to build a 500 megawatt battery on the site of a coal-fired plant that is soon to be closed in New South Wales state.

The state government has given the go-ahead to the project at Liddell Power Station in the Hunter Valley, Treasurer and Energy Minister Matt Kean said in a statement Saturday.

The new battery is three times the size of Tesla Inc.’s battery in South Australia and will ensure NSW’s electricity grid will have enough supply as the Liddell power station is phased out over the next two years, NSW Minister for Planning and Minister for Homes Anthony Roberts said in the statement.

AGL earlier this month rejected an offer from Brookfield Asset Management Inc. and billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes that aimed to accelerate the utility’s path to net-zero emissions.

The company has said the battery will be built in stages, with the first stage expected to be operational by 2023.

(By Andreea Papuc)

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