The Australian Government is providing $3.6 million for the design phase of a proposed heat battery at Rio Tinto's Yarwun alumina refinery in Gladstone. The project has not reached construction.
The planned battery would use lower-cost electricity to store energy as heat, then release it through the refinery's existing steam system. The proposed unit is designed to store 360 megawatt-hours of energy.
The government estimates that, if built and operating as planned, the demonstration could reduce onsite emissions by about 67,000 tonnes a year. That is a forecast, not a result already measured.
Up to $38 million for full construction and commissioning is conditional on the project proceeding. The partners plan to share lessons about design, installation, operations and costs with other industrial businesses.
