Texas-based petroleum giant ConocoPhillips is installing a 4MW battery storage array at its Darwin LNG plant.

The new battery should allow the company to shut down one of the gas turbines that power the facility, cutting its fuel use and emissions by nearly 20 per cent.

Conoco claims to be the world’s first LNG plant to install a battery to reduce both emissions and fuel consumption from gas turbines, which are used to liquefy natural gas for export.

The Darwin LNG plant runs on five 4MW gas turbines. One is kept running as “spinning reserve” for backup, while another is kept in reserve for ship loading procedures.

The 4MW lithium-ion battery will allow one turbine to be closed down while the remaining three are run at maximum efficiency.

“The battery has significant potential to integrate with other opportunities currently being considered by Darwin LNG to increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions such as alternative energy generation,” the president of ConocoPhillips Australia West, Chris Wilson, said in a statement.