An old Australian coal-fired power plant Could be used for good: Here’s how.

Plans to build the world’s largest battery on an old NSW coal-fired power plant have been unveiled by Origin Energy. The battery will use the plant’s existing infrastructure, a move the energy giant says shows how ageing coal plants can be repurposed for new battery projects.

The Origin Energy battery is set to be more than four times larger than Australia’s current largest battery - Tesla’s 150 megawatt battery in South Australia. It joins two more battery projects, recently announced by French energy company Neoen, both of which will also eclipse Tesla’s current record holder.

“It’s the important next step to support the very large-scale installation of renewable energy projects in NSW,” Dr Marnie Shaw, a senior research fellow at Australian National University specialising in batteries, said. “It’s conveniently making the most of transmission assets that are already existing… You make use of substations that are already there and the powerlines.”