A container-sized lithium-ion battery is lowered into place at Meridian's battery energy storage site at Marsden Point. Photo: Supplied / Meridian
New Zealand's first giant, grid-connected battery is set to open at Northland's Marsden Point on Friday.
With an ability to pump up to 100 megawatts (MW) of power into the national grid, Meridian's battery site aims to solve one of the key shortcomings of solar power - that the sun often isn't shining when power is most in demand.
The battery energy storage site (BESS) covers an area equivalent to two rugby fields and consists of 80 shipping-container-sized lithium-ion batteries, produced by French company Saft.
Meridian is also planning to build one of the country's biggest solar power stations next to the battery site.
Consent has already been granted for the solar farm, which will have about 200,000 panels spread over three sites totalling 172 hectares.
Once completed next year, the solar farm's annual output is expected to total 150-200 gigawatt-hours (GWh), enough to power half the homes in Northland.
The idea behind Meridian's Ruakākā Energy Park is that power generated by the solar farm can be stored in the batteries, then released to the national grid when most needed, for example during the evenings when domestic power use is high.
The battery site is due to be opened on Friday afternoon by Shane Jones, the Northland-based Regional Development Minister and Associate Minister for Energy.
Marsden Point used to be home to two 1970s-built oil-fired power stations, though one was never used.
Both have since been dismantled but the high-voltage power lines needed to get electricity to Auckland remain in place.
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