Meridian Energy has completed New Zealand’s first grid-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) — a 100 MW/200 MWh facility located at Ruakaka, Northland.
The battery system, built within a NZD 186 million budget, leverages Saft’s Intensium® Max containerised solution and is designed to store enough electricity to supply approximately 60,000 homes for two hours during peak winter demand. Commissioned just over a year after ground was broken in Q1 2023, it positions Meridian as a first-mover in large-scale energy storage for New Zealand — a market increasingly exposed to demand volatility, dry-year risks, and high spot price episodes.
Meridian has confirmed it will use the BESS to arbitrage price differentials between high- and low-cost periods, augment reliability in Northland — a historically constrained part of the network — and participate in the North Island reserves market. These functions, while common in mature energy markets, represent a step-change in how New Zealand asset operators manage intermittency and price volatility.
Meridian is set to begin construction on a co-located 130 MW solar PV farm at the same site, with completion targeted for early 2027. The plant is expected to host 250,000 panels and generate around 230 GWh per year, supporting decarbonization targets and diversifying generation sources. When operational, the solar-plus-storage setup will provide an integrated clean energy hub — one of the first of its scale in New Zealand.
While New Zealand’s renewable penetration remains among the highest globally — with over 80% of electricity sourced from renewables in 2023 — the need for dispatchable and storable clean energy remains urgent. Grid-scale storage is no longer optional; it is foundational for managing variability, enabling electrification, and defending against increasing peak loads and market stress events.
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