Chinese PV and storage giant Trina wins rapid green light for another big solar hybrid project

Western Australia planners have approved a huge new solar-battery hybrid project in what may be record time, with Trina Solar’s latest proposal taking just two and a half months to get through the system.

The $700 million Killawarra solar-battery hybrid will consistsof 400 megawatts (MW) of solar and a 400 MW, four-hour integrated battery.

The Chinese energy company only lodged an application with the state’s regional planning system in June, and it was approved this week with minimal changes. 

The project, now named Killawarra, will be built on a site near the small town of Kadathinni, about 300 kms north of Perth. It will tap into the north-south 330kW transmission line that runs through the property.

There are only four other batteries bigger than the Killawarra proposal in Western Australia – and one of them is also being built by Trina Solar – the Kemerton BESS in an industrial zone south of Perth.

This is the biggest battery currently proposed for Western Australia and is a 660 MW, 2,640MWh monster. It too raced through the development approval process in just four months last year. Trina Solar expects for this to be switched on in 2026. 

A 600 MW, 1200 MWh project called Three Springs is being proposed by a company called Blue Diamond Australia, a family business that made its named in mining and explosives. 

Neoen’s 560 MW and 2,240 MWh Collie BESS is already operating, at may one day be expanded to 1 GW and 4 GWh. Synergy’s CBESS, also in Collie, is a 500 MW, 2,000 MWh facility due to be switched on by this summer. 

The approval of the Killawarra project comes just days after Victoria announced approval to Trina Solar’s 5000 MW, 1,000 MWh Kiewa Valley battery.

Something’s afoot in WA

Something interesting is happening on the Regional Development Assessment Panels, in the absence of stronger guidance from the state on community benefits. 

The Panel looking at the Killawarra project also voted to include an advice note in the final approval saying Trina Solar should sign a contribution agreement with the community.

On the advice of the planning officer overseeing the application, it explicitly mentioned the Shire of Three Springs Medical Community Benefit Scheme as a likely recipient and noted the draft WA benefit guidelines and the per megawatt payment formula established by New South Wales (NSW). 

Some councils in Western Australia, led by examples set by the Narrogin Shire Council, have been trying to embed community benefits funds into development approvals in the absence of state-led guidelines. 

They’ve had little success, with developers successfully arguing that benefit funds are not a statutory requirement under the rules. 

But the use of advice notes in the final approval to provide an expectation appears to a new norm in Western Australia. 

The Killawarra note included in the final approval explicitly cited the NSW community benefit payment contribution values – $850/MW p.a for solar, $1,050/MW p.a. for wind and $150/MW p.a. for a battery – and said talks should reference both those rates and the draft WA Guidelines.

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