850 MW target: World’s most powerful battery goes live at 350 MW

The Waratah Super Battery in New South Wales, Australia, has officially begun operations as the world’s most powerful battery by power output, currently delivering 350 megawatts and expected to reach a capacity of 850 megawatts and 1,680 megawatt-hours later this year. This A$1 billion grid-scale battery can supply energy to nearly one million homes for an hour and is designed to stabilize Australia’s electricity grid amid the planned coal power plant shutdowns by 2035. Positioned on the site of a former coal-fired power station, the battery plays a critical role in the System Integrity Protection Scheme (SIPS), acting as a shock absorber to balance sudden disruptions and enable greater integration of renewable energy sources like rooftop solar. The battery supports major load centers including Sydney, Newcastle, and Wollongong by allowing more power to flow through existing transmission lines without overloading them, thus reducing renewable energy curtailment and ensuring a more consistent clean energy supply. Despite development challenges such as