South Australia's big Tesla battery is being sued for allegedly failing to live up to its promises to help rescue the power grid in the event of catastrophe.
The 150-megawatt battery was being paid to be on standby to pump energy into the grid at short notice in order to arrest a system failure in the event of a major power plant or transmission failure.
But the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) alleges it did not deliver as promised during a major Queensland coal plant failure in 2019, "creating a risk to power system security and stability".
The Federal Court legal action against owner Hornsdale Power Reserve comes months after the AER successfully sought financial penalties from wind farms for failures associated with South Australia's statewide blackout.
The Hornsdale battery, near the Mid North town of Jamestown, was built in response to the blackout, as a storage of energy in case transmission was again cut unexpectedly and as a way to stabilise power flow as more electricity comes from renewable energy.
It uses Tesla batteries after the company's head, billionaire Elon Musk, promised to provide them for free if a 100-day deadline could not be met.
Call for generators to follow through
The AER alleges Hornsdale Power Reserve — owned and operated by the French renewable energy company Neoen — failed to provide the services it was paid for by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) between July and November 2019.
AEMO first brought the alleged conduct to the AER's attention following a power system disruption at the Kogan Creek Power Station in Queensland in October 2019.
AER chairwoman Clare Savage said the AER was "sounding the alarm" on concerning behaviour in what is known as the frequency control market.
"We expect providers to be in a position, and remain in a position, to respond when called upon by AEMO.
"Failure to comply with the latest market ancillary service offer and AEMO dispatch instructions is in breach of the National Electricity Rules and may result in AER enforcement action."
