Big battery gets green light for construction in north Queensland

Queensland’s north is on track to get its first grid forming big battery, after plans to build a 200MW/400MWh energy storage system received final approval for development.

The Yabulu BESS project is being developed by Ace Power on land in Black River near the town of Yabulu, roughly 25km north-west of Townsville.

Planning documents say the big battery will be built next to a 100MW solar farm that is being developed on the same landholding as the BESS.

Ace Power says the BESS will charge and discharge from its own independent connection to Powerlink’s 132kV Yabulu South Substation and there will be “no interaction with the solar farm, physically or electrically.”

Rather, the Yabulu big battery will operate in “grid forming mode,” meaning it will be used to provide system strength to the network in the Townsville region.

With construction slated to begin in 2023/24, the battery will make a welcome addition to the grid in Queensland, where the Labor Palaszczuk government has announced ambitious new renewable energy targets, including 70% by 2032 and 80% by 2035.

The new plans aim to add 22GW of new wind and solar, 11.5GW of rooftop solar, 9GW of battery storage and 7GW of pumped hydro storage to a renewable energy SuperGrid, most of it over the coming decade. As part of this effort, a 320km transmission line upgrade will strengthen the coastal circuit from Cairns to Townsville.

No small part of this new renewable energy capacity will be built in the state’s north, where the government has designated Queensland’s first renewable energy zone, the Northern Queensland REZ.

“Batteries have a key role to play in our target of 70% renewable energy by 2032 and projects like this are helping support good jobs in Townsville,” said Queensland resources minister Scott Stewart in a statement to local press.

“Townsville and North Queensland is well placed to deliver downstream processing of critical minerals to produce batteries as well so there are great opportunities for the city moving forward.”

Ace Power says construction of the big battery will create 190 jobs, with up to 10 ongoing service jobs also created once the battery is up and running.