Energy utility AGL – still the country’s biggest coal generator and polluter – has unveiled plans for a new joint venture in south-west NSW that would include 1.5 GW of wind and solar and a giant four hour battery.
The Pottinger Energy Park – to be developed with the privately held Someva Renewables, will include a 1.2 GW wind farm (with more than 200 turbines), a 300 MW solar farm, and a 500 MW, 2000 MWh battery.
It will be located about 60kms south of Hay and will be sited within the state’s proposed south west renewable energy zone. Preliminary consultations with the local community, traditional owners and planning applications have begun.
AGL says the project will help accelerate its switch away from coal power. It closed the Liddell coal generator in the Hunter Valley last April, and still operates the Loy Yang A brown coal generator in Victoria and the Bayswater plant in NSW, but both could be closed within a decade.
Chief operating officer Markus Brokhof says the project will be a key part of the 12GW of new wind, solar and storage that it plans to build over the next decade.
“We are exploring the development of a significant wind, solar and battery project at the Pottinger Energy Park as we seek to accelerate options to develop projects that will contribute to our ambition of adding 12 GW of new renewable generation and firming capacity to our portfolio by the end of 2035,” Brokhof said in a statement.
AGL last month revealed it had increased its development pipeline of renewable and storage projects to 5.8 GW, and this will take to around 7.8 GW – although it should be noted that many of these projects are in very early stages, and make not actually be built.
Someva Renewables was co-founded in 2017 by Tim Mead and Jamie Chivers, a former executive with Equis and a co-founder of Pollinate Energy. Its team includes the former head of Enova Energy, Felicity Stening.
Its advisory team includes Katerina Kimmorley, head of commercial and investments at Boundless Earth – funded by Mike Cannon-Brookes, and also a co-founder of Pollinate Energy. Cannon-Brookes owns an 11 per cent stake in AGL which he bought in an effort to fast-track the company’s switch to green energy.
“The Pottinger Energy Park could play an important role in NSW’s energy transition by providing reliable renewable energy for up to 830,000 average NSW homes while also delivering an economic boost to the Riverina,” Chivers said in a statement.
“As part of our co-design process, Someva has been engaging with the local community for over two years. During this time, we’ve been buoyed by the support the Pottinger Energy Park has received from local landowners, Traditional Owners, local businesses, local councils and the broader community.”
Someva Renewables will lead the design, community engagement and regulatory approval process for the Pottinger Energy Park development, which could start construction in 2026, creating up to 800 construction jobs and 60 ongoing jobs.
Chivers says Pottinger is just one of its developments. It has also worked on the Hills of Gold and Coomerang wind projects in NSW, and hopes to deliver a wind project near the mining town of Mount Isa in Queensland.
The Pottinger project is located across two large land-holdings, with mixed use farming. And it is located along the line of the new Project Connect, the new link from South Australia to NSW, and Pottinger will bid into the south west renewable zone auction to be held by the NSW government.
“We were looking for an Australian partner, so it is great to partner with AGL and good to see them involved in the transition,” Chivers told RenewEconomy. He said a competitive process was held last year, and had a number of Australian and international developers interested.
The announcement follows news late last week that the federal government will seek 10 GW of new wind and solar projects in a series of tenders this year, and likely the same the following year, as it accelerates work to reach its 82 per cent renewable energy target by 2030.
NSW also has plans to build 12 GW of new capacity to help replace the ageing coal fired power stations that are due to retire in the coming decade, with Eraring still slated for closure in 2025, and Vales Point, Bayswater and Mt Piper to follow in the early 2030s, if not sooner.
