Battery Energy Storage System
BLACKROCK ALTERNATIVES

Waratah Super Battery

Powering a secure, sustainable grid.
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When New South Wales began to replace its aging, coal-fired power plants with wind and solar sources, it needed a way to provide always-on energy, while avoiding power surges. Its solution, the Waratah Super Battery, will be the single largest grid-scale battery on the planet.

See a few of the features of this remarkable project – and our investment in it - below.

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Waratah will be the world’s largest Battery Energy Storage System.¹

1MW = One million watts of energy storage capacity. 1MWh = one million watts delivered in one hour.
Power capacity

With an 850MW/1,680MWh power capacity (enough to power 230 average Sydney homes for a year).²
Soccer fields

Covering 138,000 square meters (over 19 soccer fields) near Sydney.
Soccer fields

How the technology works

Grid-scale lithium-ion batteries:
Store
Store power from wind, solar and other sources when those sources are at peak production.
Provide
Provide reliable, affordable electricity when demand is at its highest.
Buffer
Buffer supply shocks, such as outages or power surges, to ensure reliable energy.
Stabilize
Stabilize the electric grid during the transition to new power sources.

How the investment works

$700
million invested on behalf of BlackRock Climate Infrastructure clients for construction & operation³
$10
billion of client commitments to BlackRock’s infrastructure team in renewables from 20+ countries⁴

Potential revenue sources:

Contracts supported by the New South Wales Government - Energy arbitrage - Corporate offtake agreements - Grid-support service fees

New South Wales’ policy supports 12GW of renewable generation and 2GW+ of storage by 2030.⁵
2GW of storage

The grid

New South Wales is set to retire four of its five coal-powered energy stations in the next 11 years.⁶
New South Wales grid

Why now

Decrease89%
Technology – as of 2020, Li-ion battery pack prices had dropped 89% below their 2010 costs.⁷
$43
billion - Australian gov't estimated cost to build out sufficient battery storage through 2050.⁸

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