Waratah Super Battery connected to NSW power grid and switched on
The Waratah Super Battery, on the site of the former Munmorah coal-fired power station on the Central Coast, has been operating at 50 per cent capacity, or 370 megawatts.
Akaysha Energy chief executive Nick Carter, whose company operates the battery storage system, said it would act as a shock absorber for the power network.
"The main function of the battery is to really protect the network in case of an outage or a transmission line falling down or a power station tripping off," Mr Carter said.
Benefits to consumers were expected to go beyond reliability.
"The battery will allow more low-cost energy from across NSW to come into the grid," said EnergyCo executive director of technical advisory services, Andrew Kingsmill.
Mr Carter said the battery had already successfully supported the grid during summer.
"We were in the middle of testing when we had a hot day and NSW was running out of energy supply," he said.
The battery is the size of eight Australian Rules Football fields, takes about 30 minutes to walk around the full perimeter at a brisk pace, and is made up of more than 3,500 containers with batteries inside.
Once fully operational, at 850 megawatts, it could charge 46 million smartphones in one hour.
Mr Kingsmill said the battery would play an important role in helping NSW transition away from coal-fired power.
"As we see coal-fired power stations come out of the system, the battery is able to play a number of roles — it can provide storage and also help to stabilise the grid," he said.
Clean Energy Council acting chief policy and impact officer Anna Freeman said it was an important milestone.
"Big batteries such as the Waratah Super Battery are essential infrastructure needed to deliver energy security to the NSW grid and the rest of the National Electricity Market as coal-fired power stations retire," Ms Freeman said.
"Renewables firmed by storage technologies such as big batteries are the lowest-cost and most practical option to transition Australia's energy system, decarbonise our electricity grid and keep the lights on."
The remainder of the battery's capacity is due to be switched on by the end of the year.
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