The Finnish marine and energy technology company Wärtsilä has secured a contract to supply what it describes as "Australia's largest DC-coupled hybrid battery energy storage system (BESS)" for the National Electricity Market (NEM).
This marks Wärtsilä's ninth BESS installation in Australia, bringing the company's total Australian capacity to 1.5GW/5.5GWh. The energy storage facility is scheduled to become operational by 2028, with Wärtsilä recording the order in Q4 2025.
The contract follows Wärtsilä's earlier DC-coupled initiative in Australia - the 64MW/128MWh Fulham Solar Battery Hybrid project for Octopus Australia. That project, revealed in April 2025, was among the first major DC-coupled hybrid battery installations in the NEM.
While Wärtsilä has not revealed the specific project or developer for this battery storage system, the most substantial announced DC-coupled hybrid battery storage facility in the NEM currently is Lightsource bp's 49MW/562MWh Goulburn River solar-plus-storage development, which has recently commenced construction.
This aligns with Wärtsilä's characterization of the new project as "nearly four times the scale" of the Fulham Solar Battery Hybrid project. Energy-Storage.news has reached out to Wärtsilä for project clarification and will provide updates accordingly.
"This project is significantly larger than our earlier DC-coupled project, underscoring the need for this type of technology in expanding at scale," said David Hebert, vice president of global sales management at Wärtsilä Energy Storage.
"It's particularly exciting to work on the largest DC-coupled project in the country; DC-coupled technology is a breakthrough for hybrid renewable energy plants and a critical step towards establishing a financially viable renewable energy future."
Wärtsilä has confirmed the battery installation will incorporate a digital energy management and controls platform called GEMs, which has been implemented across multiple utility-scale BESS projects throughout Australia, including Amp Energy's 150MW/300MWh 2-hour duration Bungama BESS in South Australia. The platform will also be utilized across different phases of the 2.8GWh Eraring BESS project in New South Wales.
DC-coupled configurations connect solar generation and batteries directly via a DC/DC converter, reducing energy losses and capturing solar power that would otherwise be wasted.
When compared to conventional AC-coupled setups, the hybrid arrangement substantially enhances project economics, system efficiency, and overall grid stability.
Australia's hybrid solar-battery sector has accelerated as developers acknowledge the operational and economic benefits of co-located installations. GPG's Western Australia hybrid project showcased early implementation of hybrid configurations beyond the NEM, pairing 10.2MW of solar capacity with 2MW/1MWh of battery storage at the Kalbarri Microgrid.
The GPG project, launched in 2023, marked Western Australia's first grid-connected large-scale hybrid solar-battery facility and demonstrated the capability of hybrid systems to deliver grid services while optimizing renewable energy utilization. The project's achievements helped create technical and commercial frameworks for larger hybrid developments throughout Australia's diverse electricity markets.
The magnitude of Wärtsilä's newest DC-coupled project demonstrates the technology's advancement and increasing adoption among Australian energy market stakeholders. Although detailed capacity specifications for the new project remain undisclosed, it is anticipated to surpass the company's earlier DC-coupled installations and support Australia's renewable energy transformation goals.
