AGL Energy <AGL.AX>, Australia's biggest power producer, signed up to buy stored power from a 100 megawatt (MW) battery to be built by renewable energy developer Vena Energy in the state of Queensland, where there is a growing supply of solar power.
Vena said the project, set to be Australia's second largest battery following the expansion of a Tesla <TSLA.O> battery in South Australia, would cost A$120 million ($82 million) and be able to supply enough power for up to 57,000 average homes.
Construction is due to begin in July and expected to take about a year, Vena Energy Chief Executive Nitin Apte said.
Vena Energy, an independent power producer focused on the Asia-Pacific region, is owned by Global Infrastructure Partners, a private equity fund.
Vena's battery, to be built at Wandoan in southwest Queensland, will be able to soak up excess solar generation and release that capacity when AGL's Coopers Gap wind farm and other wind and solar sources are not generating, AGL Chief Executive Brett Redman said.
AGL signed a similar agreement last year to buy battery power from Maoneng Group, which is developing four large-scale batteries with a total capacity of 200MW/400MWh by 2023.
(Reporting by Sonali Paul; editing by Richard Pullin)
