CBA eyes fresh battery financing as pipeline grows

Mr Fraser highlighted the recent announcement by ARENA of a massive pipeline of batteries in the works as indication that there was a pipeline for CBA to invest in, but he said some obstacles remain.

“There are a lot of battery projects out there at the moment. ARENA, for example, is going through a $100 million funding round and I think they’ve just shortlisted 12 of the 54 projects that applied, so that shows the number of projects that are out there. I think the key thing that’s holding all those projects coming through currently is just the lack of the [offtake agreements],” Mr Fraser said.

About $3.7 billion of proposed large-scale battery projects will battle over $100 million of funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency in a grant round announced last week that was swamped with applications.

ARENA acting chief executive Chris Faris said the response to the round – which attracted 54 initial proposals – far exceeded expectations. Twelve projects have been shortlisted representing a total 3050 megawatts and 7000 megawatt-hours, requesting funding of $297 million.

The ARENA funding round, launched last December, is aimed at supporting grid-scale batteries that are equipped with advanced inverter technology that can help stabilise the grid.

Mr Fraser said the new Labor government’s commitment to renewable energy generation and work by the Australian Energy Markets Commission to develop a capacity mechanism, which would pay providers to ensure…