China solar giant Trina seeks approval for biggest battery project in Australia

The Chinese-based solar giant Trina Solar has submitted plans to build what would be the biggest battery storage facility in Australia, at Kemerton in an industrial zone south of Perth.

The proposal is for a facility hosting up to 660 megawatts (MW) of capacity, and 2,640 megawatt hours (MWh) of storage, which would be bigger than the 560 MW, 2420 MWh Collie battery currently being built by Neoen in the same state, and the 275 MW, 2,200 MWh Richmond Valley battery proposed by Ark Energy in NSW.

The size of big battery projects is growing rapidly, with many new projects around 20 times bigger – in storage terms – than the original Tesla big battery at Hornsdale, which began in 2017 as a 100 MW, 129 MWh project and was later expanded to 150 MW and 197 MWh.

Western Australia is now host to at least three big battery projects sized at more than 2,000 MWh, with two of them already under construction – the Neoen battery at Collie and another 500 MW, 2,000 MWh battery being built by state-owned Synergy in the same town.

Collie is home to the state’s last remaining coal fired power generators, all of which are expected to retire by 2030. And, because W.A.’s main grid is isolated and not connected to any other grid, it needs to rely on its own internal resources to ensure it has the system services, and storage needs, to meet its demand requirements.

Those demand forecasts are expected to jump significantly in coming decades, according to a state government modelling, largely as a result of new, energy hungry green industries that will seek low cost and zero emissions renewable energy supplies.

The state says there could be demand for 50 gigawatts (GW) of new wind and solar in coming decades, all of which will need to be backed up by storage.

The Kemerton battery proposed by Trina will be sited on about 19 hectares of land previously cleared for sand mining, and now located within an industrial area south of Kwinana, and just 3 kms from a major connection point at the Kemerton terminal station.

“The sand mining operation is nearing the end of its life, presenting the opportunity to repurpose the site to align with the State’s renewable energy targets,” the planning application document filed with the Harvey shire council says.

Interestingly, the 2,000 hectare Kemerton industrial estate has been the site of several previous proposals, including one more than five years ago from Carnegie Clean Energy, and a 200 MWh project put forward by Neoen in 2022 that was rejected by planning authorities, according to this ABC report.

Intriguingly, in February this year Sunrise Energy proposed a 100 MW, 400 MWh battery at the very same location, on land also owned by Lyndon Edwards.

The Kemerton battery is one of three battery storage projects being developed by Trina Solar in Australia. It is already pursuing the 500 MW, 1,000 MWh Kiewa Valley BESS project in Victoria, and the 270 MW, 540 MWh Augusta BESS in Port Paterson, South Australia.

Trina says the Kemerton battery will charge during the day, soaking up the excess solar produced by the rooftop solar on the state’s homes and businesses, and its growing number of large scale solar farms. It will feed electricity back into the grid in the evening peaks.

Trina says the battery will also enhance the reliability of proposed wind resources in the southern region by stabilising its output.

Construction is expected to commence in the third quarter of 2026, and take about two years to build. It says it is still working on connected studies and detailed design. The project will require 800 battery units and 200 inverter units, but the contractor and the suppliers have not yet been chosen.

See more information on battery storage projects in Renew Economy’s Big Battery Storage Map of Australia.