Big, four-hour battery that survived long-distance objectors hits financial close, moves to construction

A New South Wales big battery project that last year survived a challenge from long-distance objectors to win state development approval has now reached financial close, after being bought up by a global energy storage owner-operator.

Australian renewables outfit Acenergy said on Thursday that its 250 megawatt (MW), 1,000 megawatt-hour (MWh) Yanco battery energy storage system (BESS) had been acquired by UK-based outfit BW ESS, which will take the project through construction and into long-term operations.

The Yanco BESS is slated for construction near the town of the same name in south-western NSW, where it will sit next to an existing large electricity substation, alongside a rail line, surrounded by numerous existing transmission lines, and just 200 metres from a local sewerage treatment plant.

The project was sent the state’s Independent Planning Commission in September last year after receiving 63 public submissions objecting to its development, more than 90 per cent of which came from people and “special interest groups” located more than 100 km away.

As Renew Economy reported at the time, nearly one third (17) of the objectors came from interstate and there were no objections from anyone living within five kilometres of the project site.

The “very low level of local interest or concern towards the project” was duly noted by the IPC and helped inform its decision, after a few weeks of assessment and deliberation, to grant development approval for the BESS.

BW ESS, which has now acquired the shovel-ready project for an undisclosed sum, adds it to an Australian portfolio of 1.3 GWh of wholly or jointly-owned projects in the commissioning phase, 1 GWh entering construction, and a greenfield pipeline of around 2GW across the National Electricity Market (NEM).

“Australia’s investment in a more flexible and reliable power system creates a compelling role for battery storage, and we are delighted to support that transition through Yanco BESS,” BW ESS executive director Andy Hadland said in a statement on Thursday.

“As a long-term owner and operator of energy-storage assets, our priority is to progress the project responsibly, establish strong local relationships and deliver enduring value for the electricity system.”

Acenergy says projects like Yanco BESS – which will have the capacity to supply around 430,000 homes with electricity for four hours – are becoming increasingly important to Australia’s energy transition. It is the company’s fifth large-scale BESS to reach financial close.

“Financial close on Yanco BESS is a significant milestone for ACEnergy and a strong endorsement of our platform,” said Acenergy managing director Raymond Wang, on Thursday.

“We have taken the project from origination through to ready-to-build, working closely with the local community and stakeholders along the way.

“BW ESS has a strong track record of delivering and operating major energy storage projects, and the capability and resources to realise Yanco’s full potential.”

Yanco BESS comes with a $3 million Voluntary Planning Agreement with Leeton Shire Council, and a capacity swap deal which provides long-term contracted
cashflow.

Global energy storage giant CATL has been appointed as System Integrator for the project while ACLE Services has been engaged as Balance of Plant (BoP) contractor. CATL and ACLE Services will also provide long-term operations and maintenance services to the project.

Site construction will commence later this year, with commercial operation planned for 2028, the companies say.

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