Hydro Tasmania welcomes the first release of the Australian Energy Market Operator’s Integrated System Plan (ISP) and its support for developing the Battery of the Nation initiative.

Battery of the Nation is one of two major existing energy storage proposals (along with the Snowy 2.0 project), identified in the ISP released by AEMO.

Hydro Tasmania’s Battery of the Nation Project Director, Chris Gwynne, said the business supports strategic national energy market planning, as the ISP seeks to provide.

“There’s major uncertainty and risk in the future NEM. As the ISP notes, the market needs credible options (like Battery of the Nation) ready to deploy when needed,” Mr Gwynne said.

AEMO supports the continued development of the Battery of the Nation initiative to ensure it can be made available to the market, when needed, with the shortest possible lead times.

“We’ll keep working with AEMO, TasNetworks and others to deliver the most reliable and affordable clean energy future for Australia,” Mr Gwynne said.

“Battery of the Nation is about locking-in energy security and giving Tasmanians the lowest possible power prices. It offers a future that’s clean, reliable and affordable.

“As our recent analysis has shown, Tasmania has huge natural advantages - including our existing hydropower system, exceptional wind resources and our existing expertise.

“Doubling Tasmania’s clean energy capacity, and introducing pumped hydro storage, would also create plenty of surplus energy to support mainland Australia as it phases out coal power,” he said.

Early modelling shows Battery of the Nation would create billions of dollars of investment and thousands of jobs in regional Tasmania over 10 to 15 years.

Battery of the Nation was recently added to Infrastructure Australia’s Priority List. The Tasmanian and Australian Governments have committed to pursue the next stage of a business case for a second Bass Strait interconnector.

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Released for Hydro Tasmania by Rowan Dix, (03) 62305330 / 0409 722359 / media@hydro.com.au.