WHAT WE DO
At North Harbour Clean Energy, we are focussing on the only two proven methods of long-duration, utility-scale storage technologies: Pumped Hydro Energy Storage (PHES) and large-scale Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRFB)
We believe storage will play a critical and early role in decarbonising the electricity system and reducing global carbon emissions.
Although renewable sources such as wind and solar will assist society’s efforts to decarbonise, these technologies rely on ideal conditions. This makes energy supply unpredictable and means that the future supply of energy will be inconsistent, and their output is non-coincident with demand. As legacy assets such as coal-fired generators retire, energy storage will be essential in capturing renewable generation and re-distributing it during the times of the day when it’s needed most.
Energy storage allows for renewable energy to be stored and dispatched at times when the sun isn’t shining, and the wind isn’t blowing. Rather than shifting energy between places – energy storage allows us to shift energy between times.
North Harbour Clean Energy will be a long-term generator in the National Electricity Market, operating a network of PHES and VRFB projects currently under various stages of progress.
Generation
North Harbour Clean Energy will be a long-term generator in the National Electricity Market (NEM), operating a network of PHES and VRFB assets which are currently under various stages of progress. These assets are expected to provide around 600MW or 4,800MWH of long duration energy storage to the National Electricity Market.
Research & Development
North Harbour Clean Energy and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have launched a jointly owned company focussed on further improving the cost and efficiency of VRFBs. The research and development by NHCE and UNSW are being led by Maria Skyllas-Kazacos, who invented the technology in Australia at UNSW in the 1980s.
Manufacturing
North Harbour Clean Energy and CellCube have signed a Strategic Manufacturing Cooperation Agreement to build an assembly and manufacturing line of VRFBs in Eastern Australia. The new manufacturing facility is tipped to produce around 25% (initially 160MWh then 8GWh per year) of Australia’s energy storage needs of ~640GWh (Source: AEMO, 2022-integrated-system-plan-isp.pdf (aemo.com.au)) and will assist with reaching net zero by 2050.
CellCube and NHCE will conduct a feasibility study and work towards a final investment decision on the 50:50 joint venture. The initial project delivered by this partnership will see the development and installation of Australia’s largest VRFB (4MW/16MWh). This will allow the chosen site to store up to four hours of renewable energy for either use-on-demand or for dispatch back to the grid when electricity demand is high.
