Glenbrook Ohurua Battery 1 is Contact’s first grid‑scale battery. The battery started trading on 1 April 2026, and was officially opened on 21 May 2026 by Rt Hon Christopher Luxon, Prime Minister.
Located at the New Zealand Steel (NZ Steel) Glenbrook site in South Auckland, the 100‑megawatt (MW) battery stores renewable electricity when demand is low and delivers it back to the grid when demand is high and it’s needed most.
Contact contracted Tesla to supply the 56-unit Megapack 2 XL battery system, powering the equivalent of 44,000 households for around two hours during peak demand.
How the battery works
New Zealand already generates most of its electricity from renewable sources like hydro, geothermal, wind and solar. The challenge is making sure that we’re capturing as much of this energy as possible, and that it’s available at the right time.
Glenbrook Ohurua Battery 1 helps by:
In simple terms, it reliably and sustainably helps keep the lights on when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining.
Supporting a more independent energy system
Maximising renewable energy storage means the battery can:
Our partners
Tesla supplied and commissioned our first grid-scale battery at Glenbrook. It’s the company’s first Megapack 2XL system in New Zealand. The Tesla team provides long-term maintenance services for the battery.
Having the battery based at the Glenbrook site further strengthens Contact’s existing partnership with NZ Steel. Contact leases the land for the battery from NZ Steel.
In May 2023, Contact and NZ Steel announced a flexible off-peak arrangement where Contact provides 30MW of electricity to NZ Steel for its new electric arc furnace. This will almost halve the steel mill’s carbon emissions.
Together we’re supporting energy system resilience and building decarbonisation initiatives at scale and speed.
Contact also directly engaged local businesses and partners on the project to ensure the economic benefits of the construction project stay with New Zealand businesses as much as possible.
Safety
Health and safety issues and risks have proven to be extremely low for the battery. Thousands of similar units are installed around the globe; designed and extensively tested by Tesla to guarantee safety for everyone nearby.
The battery is automatically monitored 24/7 by Contact and Tesla. All potentially hazardous substances are contained within sealed and closed battery units. In the highly unlikely event of a fire in a unit, the battery system will immediately isolate itself, and the cabinets are spaced so fire can’t spread. In such an event, we will follow our emergency response plan agreed with Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
Glenbrook Ohurua Battery 2
We’re underway with Glenbrook Ohurua Battery 2, an additional 200MW project adjacent to Battery 1. The second battery will power the equivalent of 88,000 households during peak demand for around 2 hours. Battery 1 and 2 will have a combined capacity of 300MW, enough to power the equivalent of 132,000 homes for ~2 hours.
Project details
The site was selected for its proximity to a major transmission connection and to Auckland, New Zealand’s largest electricity demand centre.
News
The 1News story below shares a behind the scenes look at Glenbrook Ohurua Battery 1 during development
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