EnergyAustralia has announced an innovative 12-year ‘virtual toll’ offtake agreement with Akaysha Energy, backed by its Orana Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), due to commence commercial operations in 2026.
The innovative and flexible offtake allows EnergyAustralia to virtually “charge” and “discharge” 200MW as a financial product that is separate to the physical operation of the BESS, helping to manage its price and load commitments to its customers, particularly during periods of high demand. At present, this will be the largest virtual toll contracted in the National Electricity Market (NEM).
EnergyAustralia has committed to expanding its renewable portfolio to include up to 3GW of renewable energy, committed or operational, by 2030. This includes construction, Power Purchase Agreements, Storage Agreements and deployment of Consumer Energy Resources. The commitment to execute the Akaysha New South Wales Virtual Tolling Agreement aligns to EnergyAustralia’s strategic direction and intent to transition to a low carbon future, while ensuring system reliability for Australian energy consumers.
EnergyAustralia’s Trading and Transition Executive, Ross Edwards, said, “We are committed to an orderly and responsible energy transition, and we are actively investing in flexible capacity to enable secure, affordable and reliable electricity for our customers.”
“The virtual toll solution, tailored by Akaysha, fits perfectly within our portfolio. Our clear intention is to accelerate the development of renewable projects and help bring forward the investment needed to support Australia’s clean energy transition.”
Paul Curnow, Managing Director and Chief Commercial Officer at Akaysha, said the virtual toll with EnergyAustralia is the largest virtual toll contracted in the NEM to date.
“This type of offtake product can be scaled in contracted capacity to better accommodate off taker demand and was devised by Akaysha’s commercial and energy markets teams to allow EnergyAustralia to have the full benefits of a large-scale battery asset, whilst not actually having to build and operate it - Akaysha will do this for them.”
EnergyAustralia continues to invest in developing the firming capacity required to complement renewable generation capacity as coal retires, through a mix of technologies. To date, EnergyAustralia has secured over 1GW across the NEM via both Power Purchase Agreements and Energy Storage Agreements, and is progressing feasibility studies into storage solutions, including batteries at Wooreen, Mt Piper and Hallett, and pumped hydro at Lake Lyell.
Akaysha’s Orana BESS will be located within the Central West ‘Orana Renewable Energy Zone’, near Wellington in New South Wales. The Agreement further supports EnergyAustralia’s commitment to customers in the State as it follows the recent commercial operation of Tallawarra B, a fast-start 320MW gas-fired power station that is able to provide more than 180,000 customers in New South Wales with new flexible generation capacity.
