Australia’s biggest battery proposed to soak up Brisbane rooftop solar

Plans for what would be the biggest battery on Australia’s a main grid – a huge 850 megawatt, rooftop solar-soaking battery with up to four hours of energy storage capacity – have been submitted for approval for development near Ipswich in south-east Queensland.

The developer, a little known Brisbane-based outfit called Libra Energy, announced on Friday that applications have commenced for the 850 MW/3,400 MWh Bremer Battery Project (BBP), proposed for near existing Powerlink transmission lines south of Rosewood.

If built at that scale, the Bremer would battery would beat the 2,240 MWh Collie battery being built by Neoen in Western Australia as the biggest in Australia.

“The BBP is designed to integrate seamlessly into the energy grid, boosting the reliability and efficiency of South East Queensland’s network, by helping to store excess energy,” the company says in a statement.

“Most of Libra’s directors, shareholders and investors live locally and with some having businesses in the area, they understand the region and are committed to engaging the community throughout the process.”

Libra, which is new to the pages of Renew Economy, says it has mostly developed solar and wind projects in Africa and Asia, before working up plans for the Bremer Battery on its home turf.

According to the company’s website, the plan had been to build a solar farm, but in light of how much excess solar is already slopping around on the Queensland grid in the middle of the average sunny day, decided to go with battery storage instead.

“With so much solar being generated in Queensland, we need initiatives that help boost storage capacity in the energy grid,” said Libra Energy chair Rod Stephenson on Friday.

“Queenslanders have installed rooftop solar with the expectation of reducing the cost of their own energy usage and selling excess generation into the grid. Grid-scale batteries are necessary to ensure Queenslanders can continue to sell their excess energy into the grid.

“We are looking forward to engaging with the community and talking about the benefits the project will bring to the region.”

Libra says it has completed the project scoping study and got the green light from the grid operator and has several interested parties who want to buy the stored electricity. It is now working on the pre-feasibility study and connection application.

Big batteries vs “water batteries”

Queensland, like its similarly coal-dependent southern neighbour New South Wales, is racing to install enough storage to support its race to renewables, including targets of 50 per cent by 2030 and 70 per cent by 2032.

The state Labor government on Friday released an update on its plans to build what it says is the world’s “biggest water battery” in the state’s mid-north near Mackay, saying geotechnical drilling has produced promising results for the pumped hydro project.

The proposed Pioneer-Burdekin Renewable Hydro Power Project plans to pump water up the Great Dividing Range when power is plentiful and cheap, before letting gravity generate power in the evening peak when more supply is needed.

The results of the promising rock samples from the project’s proposed site – which the government says reveal potential for higher power, and faster project delivery – follow news of yet more delays to the drilling for the massive Snowy 2.0 project.

“I have said all along that this project will be delivered on time, and this is just further proof the characteristics of Queensland’s landscape mean this project will be fundamentally different to that of Snowy 2.0,” said state energy minister Mick de Brenni on Friday.

“Queensland Hydro advises me that due to the quality of these core samples, it opens up a broader range of options for the project’s design, and may also lead to an improved project schedule.”

But the state opposition – Queensland has a state election coming up in October – is not convinced that costly and complex pumped hydro projects are the way to go.

LNP leader David Crisafulli told the ABC earlier this week that with “no planning approvals, no business case and no environmental assessment” for the Pioneer-Burdekin scheme, his government would not be supporting the project.

“The government can’t say how much it’s going to cost or the impact on people’s power bills,” he said.

“Is it any wonder we said we can’t support that project, because the government hasn’t been fair dinkum.”