South Australia announces $550m energy overhaul

The South Australian government will spend half-a-billion-dollars building the country's largest battery storage project, along with a new state-owned, gas-fired power plant. The major spend comes nearly six months after a state-wide blackout that left over a million people without power, and sparked a political debate over the reliability of wind and solar energy.

The 100-megawatt battery will be the same size as the one proposed by Elon Musk, the billionaire C-E-O of the technology company Tesla.  The battery will be built by the private sector - with support from a government renewables fund. 

Image: South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill and Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis. (AAP)