Acen wins approval to build Australia’s biggest battery – next to biggest solar farm

The New England region of New South Wales is to host Australia’s biggest battery yet, after renewables developer Acen Australia secured approval to boost the size of its New England solar battery to a massive 1.4GW (1,400MW) and 2.8GWh, or two hours of storage.

The battery, which is being built alongside Acen’s huge 720MW New England solar farm, was originally approved as a 200MW, two-hour facility, but this week got the all-clear from the state government to be super-sized.

If built to that capacity it will beat beat the 850MW/1680MWh Waratah Super battery and the newly announced 500MW/2000MWh Collie battery in Western Australia.

Origin Energy’s planned Eraring battery is sized at 700MW and 2800MWh (or four hours storage), although the first stage of that battery is set to be smaller at 460MW and 920MWh.

“An application to modify the development consent for the project has now been approved by the Department of Planning and Environment, which includes an increase to its battery energy storage capacity of 1,400MW/2hr, or 2,800 megawatt hours,” a company statement says.

“The modification also includes some changes to Stage 2 of the solar project area, helping to optimise the project, and move it another step towards construction.”

The battery be built alongside what is the biggest solar farm in Australia – at least for the time being – the first 400MW stage of which was launched in March, east of Uralla on the lands of the Anaiwan and Gumbaynggirr people.

Acen Australia CEO Anton Rohner says the boosted battery storage capacity will play a critical role in securing energy supply across New South Wales, as coal power continues to exit the grid.

“The state’s ageing coal fired generators are due to close over the next 20 years; large battery energy storage systems like these are critical in replacing that capacity with on-demand energy,” Rohner said.

“The New England Solar battery storage can charge using excess power generated from solar and wind, and discharge that energy when required.

“It will be a reliable, cheaper, and greener form of energy generation for NSW.”

Michael Connarty, Acen Australia’s manager of strategy and stakeholder engagement, says the company was keen to seize the opportunity integrate large amounts of solar and battery storage at the same place.

“This was an opportunity with our existing project to look at, just, the expanse of what we could do. And we’ve been pleased to be able to get approval to look at a battery of that size,” Connarty told RenewEconomy on Wednesday.

“It’s about helping that transition to be as smooth as possible and hopefully deliver the services and requirements that the grid and customers need going forward.”

Acen announced roughly one year ago that ground had been broken on the first-stage of the battery – 50MW and one-hour of storage.

The company says the location of the much bigger battery still lies within the approved site boundary, with the additional land currently being used as laydown areas for Stage 1 construction works.

The plan is to continue with the staged development of both the solar and the big battery, with the 320MW stage two of the solar farm a priority before the battery is expanded.

Connarty says Acen has not yet settled on a technology supplier or partner to build the battery, and will go through a process to find the best fit for this particular BESS in this particular area, while also working up the finances for the project.

“We see that there’s a need for a lot of this technology, whether it’s large-scale batteries or pumped hydro or wind, solar, and transmission,” he says.

“So this is just another step in trying to make the transition as smooth and as cost effective as possible.”

Acen, or AC Energy Corp, is the listed energy platform of the Philippines-based Ayala Group, which this year has increased its ownership in UPC\AC Renewables to 100%. The acquisition led to the rebranding of UPC\AC Renewables to Acen Australia.

In March, at the launch of New England solar farm stage one, Rohner said having the Philippines conglomerate behind Acen Australia gave the company the capital ability to invest the extra 320MW of solar.