French renewable energy company Neoen said the battery's output capacity will be boosted from 100 to 150 megawatts (MW) and its storage capacity will be expended to 193.5 megawatt hours (Mwh), according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Wednesday.
State Energy Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan said the project would guarantee more secure and affordable power for the state.
"We know that the 100MW capacity of the existing Hornsdale battery has saved South Australian electricity consumers 40 million Australian dollars (27.2 million U.S. dollars) per year since its inception," he said.
"This 50 percent increase in capacity to the battery, plus the additional services that we will receive, will add an additional 47 million Australian dollars (32 million U.S. dollars) per year of savings to South Australian electricity consumers."
The expansion will be financed through the federal government's Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), with the state government contributing 15 million Australian dollars (10.2 million U.S. dollars) and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (AREA) eight million Australian dollars (5.4 million U.S. dollars).
The battery, otherwise known as the Hornsdale Power Reserve, stores power generated by Neoen's nearby Hornsdale Wind Farm, which is then distributed to the power grid at times of high demand.
The battery was built in 2017 under an agreement between Tesla, Neoen and the former South Australia government.
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