Tesla Big Battery in Moorabool switched on after fire – UPDATE

UPDATE, DECEMBER 9: The Victorian Big Battery site in Moorabool has been turned back on, set to supply roughly 650,000 homes with power.

Lily D'Ambrosio, the state's Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, said the battery facility will be a fundamental aspect to reducing energy costs in Victoria.

"The Victorian Government is proud to flick the switch on Australia’s biggest battery which will help protect our network in summer, support our renewable revolution, and slash energy prices," said D'Ambrosio.

"Neoen’s battery is a fantastic achievement as Victoria transitions to our legislated targets of 50 per cent renewables by 2030 and net zero by 2050."

Read below to find out more about the Tesla battery's fire which broke out earlier this year.

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The story to here

SEPTEMBER 28: A fire which broke out at the Victorian Big Battery site in July has been attributed to a cooling system leak, an inquiry has found.

Energy Safe Victoria reports a short circuit in one of the Tesla-made Megapacks sparked the blaze, resulting in a fire which damaged two of the packs on site.

An apparent 24-hour delay in connecting the batteries to the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system meant the Megapack's alarms were not being actively monitored at the time of testing.

ESV recommended the site's owners implement a number of changes, all of which have been met, leading to the site's re-opening tomorrow.

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AUGUST 3: A fire at the Victorian Big Battery site in Moorabool is now out, with the County Fire Authority saying there are no signs of a fire within the Tesla battery's container.

The CFA provided an update on Monday afternoon, saying "a smaller number of firefighters and fire trucks from CFA will remain on scene for the next 24 hours as a precaution in case of reignition. They will continue taking thermal temperature readings two-hourly to monitor damaged units".

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AUGUST 2: Firefighters are continuing to tackle a blaze which has broken out in a Tesla battery pack facility in Victoria.

The fire at the Big Battery site in the town of Moorabool first started on Friday morning, and although it was largely brought under control the same day, continues to burn as crews monitor it to stop it spreading.

The incident started in a 13-tonne lithium battery pack made by Tesla was first reported at 10.30am on Friday, as Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) became the first responders on the scene, followed by the Country Fire Authority (CFA) taking control at 3.30pm – by which time the fire had already spread to a second battery pack.

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According to CFA Incident Controller, Ian Beswicke, the crews had planned to control the temperature of the fire and let it continue to burn, although the fire is still not yet under control despite subsiding as of Monday morning.

“The plan is that we keep it cool on the outside and protect the exposures so it doesn’t cause any issues for any of the other components in the power station," said Beswicke on Friday.

“We’re starting to get to the point where most of it has burnt away…we’ll just keep monitoring it and keep dealing with it as we have been to ensure that we minimise anything that’s coming offsite and any risk to the community.”

Victorian Big Battery said the site was also disconnected from the grid once the fire broke out with no impact to electricity supply being recorded. But FRV and CFA did advise local residents in nearby Geelong to close their windows and bring pets inside due to the potentially toxic smoke.

Owned by French company Neoen, the facility has a 300 megawatt capacity with 450 megawatt-hours of energy, acting as a back-up during blackouts and power surges in the grid, providing a more stable source of power to the region across mixed conditions.

Once the fire is extinguished, Neoen and all other relevant parties will investigate the cause of the blaze.