The Australian electricity grid’s most recently announced extremity is a gargantuan battery system in South Australia, designed to bolster grid security. The facility has been met mostly with a warm welcome, interspersed with weird, interesting and tense hostility.
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| ‘Lithium ion batteries are perfectly suited to our millisecond needs – they’re quick to build and incredibly responsive, with no moving parts.’ |
Buried in the mix of reactions are clues about how a new phase of grid transition might play out, as we switch from the rapid build out of zero carbon power sources to building and integrating them into a system designed for fossil fuels.
Before we interrogate the misunderstandings of South Australia’s new battery, we have to step back and look at the system as a single, electric organism.
Read Ketan Joshi’s story on The Guardian - “Commentators who don't understand the grid should butt out of the battery debate.”
