Another four hour battery project gets development approval in W.A.

A new big battery in an industrial precinct north of Bunbury in Western Australia has won development approval, and promises to be developer Sunrise Energy Group’s largest project to date. 

The 100 megawatt (MW), 400 MWh Wellesley battery will sit in a new strategic industrial area and connect into the South-West Interconnected System (SWIS) via the nearby Western Power 132 KV substation.

Construction and installation of the $200 million project is expected to take between 12-18 months.

The Regional Development Assessment Panel approved the battery on Tuesday on the grounds that a “renewable energy facility” is an appropriate use of a strategic industrial area devoted to mineral and gas processing for export.

“The facility will be operational 24/7 and will typically charge during the daytime when there is excess renewable generation and discharging during peak times,” the RDP assessment said.

“During these peak business hours, the development will be managed by 2-4 local operational staff who will undertake monitoring, cleaning and general maintenance of the infrastructure.

The main concern for the panel was bushfire risk because the former sand mining site is surrounded by scrubby bush.

Sunrise Energy Group is an emerging renewables developer from Perth. The company’s portfolio includes two small solar farms and a microgrid, and a pilot project with solar panel installer 5B at a Western Australia horse breeding stud farm. 

Renew Economy is seeking comment from the developer.

The Wellesley battery is part of the shift towards longer and longer duration storage. In Western Australia, all the new big battery projects have four hours of storage, including the country’s biggest, the 560 MW, 22409 MWh Collie battery being built by Neoen, and the nearby 500 MW, 2,000 MWh being built by Synergy.