A large-scale grid-connected battery energy storage system is to be built at Ruakākā on North Island, thought to be the first of its kind in New Zealand. The 100 MW storage system, which
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Construction of New Zealand’s first large-scale grid battery storage system is now complete, with Meridian Energy’s Ruakākā Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) being officially opened in a ceremony later today.
This will be the country’s newest large-scale battery, the closest to the largest city, and Tesla’s first Megapack 2 XL system in New Zealand. Contact, in the agreement with Tesla, also has the option to expand the capacity of the battery to 130 MW at this site; a move which would make it New Zealand’s biggest battery.
New Zealand’s Contact Energy has announced plans to build a 100-megawatt (MW) grid-scale battery at Glenbrook, near Auckland, New Zealand, powered by Tesla Megapacks. This project is set to cost up to NZD$163 million (C$133 million) and is expected to be operational by the first quarter of 2026.
Contact, in the agreement with Tesla, also has the option to expand the capacity of the battery to 130 MW at this site; a move which would make it New Zealand’s biggest battery. The battery will store excess renewable electricity, often generated by the wind or sun in off-peak periods when demand is low, which would otherwise go to waste.
Transmission system operator Transpower also published studies in 2017 that showed the potential value of large-scale battery storage for balancing New Zealand’s grid and in 2019 that showed the potential value of distributed storage.
The 100 MW storage system, to be operated by Meridian Energy, is designed to improve the stability of New Zealand’s national grid as intermittent renewable power generation increases in the country.
The global solar storage container market is experiencing explosive growth, with demand increasing by over 200% in the past two years. Pre-fabricated containerized solutions now account for approximately 35% of all new utility-scale storage deployments worldwide. North America leads with 40% market share, driven by streamlined permitting processes and tax incentives that reduce total project costs by 15-25%. Europe follows closely with 32% market share, where standardized container designs have cut installation timelines by 60% compared to traditional built-in-place systems. Asia-Pacific represents the fastest-growing region at 45% CAGR, with China's manufacturing scale reducing container prices by 18% annually. Emerging markets in Africa and Latin America are adopting mobile container solutions for rapid electrification, with typical payback periods of 3-5 years. Major projects now deploy clusters of 20+ containers creating storage farms with 100+MWh capacity at costs below $280/kWh.
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