Coal country battery project that earned ire of state MPs joins queue for federal environmental approval

A four-hour, 200 megawatt (MW) battery proposed for construction in Victoria’s south-east has entered the federal government’s environmental assessment and approval process this week, opening the hotly contested project to a new round of public submissions.

The Darnum Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) under development by Samsung C&T Renewable Energy Australia (SREA) officially entered the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act queue on Monday and is open for public comment until October 26.

SREA proposes to install the 800 megawatt-hour (MWh) BESS near the town of Warragul, 100 kilometres south-east of Melbourne, on the traditional lands of the Brataualung People that has most recently been used for dairy farming.

According to the documents referred to the EPBC, the proposed project area has a dwelling, large shed and cattle yard, all of which would remain on site during the operation of the BESS. Three “shelterbelts” of planted cypress trees would also be “largely retained” for screening purposes.

The battery will connect to the National Electricity Market (NEM) through AusNet’s nearby 220 kV transmission line, which crosses parallel to the southern boundary of the site, and will provide essential energy storage capacity to enhance grid stability.

But the proposed location of the BESS has been the subject of some strong and vocal community push-back, including from the local Baw Baw Shire Council and local state MPs, who argue that the battery will be taking up prime land that should be reserved for agricultural purposes.

In a clip shared to Facebook, the Liberal member for Narracan, Wayne Farnham, told state parliament just last month that “Samsung can get stuffed,” while a number of signs with messages including “piss off Samsung” have been on display along the main freeway to the Gippsland region since the BESS plans first emerged.

A community group called Friends of Gippsland Inc has also formed in opposition to the project, and has recently shared instructions on how to object to the Darnum BESS on its Facebook page.

An ABC News report in May said a Friends of Gippsland petition opposing the Samsung project as well as another battery proposed by Zebre in the region had gathered around 6,000 signatures.

In documents submitted to the state planning minister, SREA says a number of key impacts, “both positive and negative,” have been identified during community engagement activities – on the negative side the most frequently raised concerns include impact on “visual amenity, sense of place from land use change” and reduced public safety due to fire risk.

“Although less cited, when considering the positive impacts of the Project, stakeholders most frequently raised increased energy security during peak times, improved sustainability outcomes through the facilitation of renewable energy usage and opportunities for enhanced community and economic development,” the documents say.

In its EPBC referral, SREA says it expects the Darnum BESS to provide important “firming and strength services” necessary to facilitate the addition of new renewable energy capacity from the Gippsland Renewable Energy Zone and the Gippsland Offshore Zone, which have been estimated at 1.1 and 9 gigawatts (GW) respectively.

If the project secures its necessary approvals, a total of 196 battery modules will be installed on a single parcel of privately owned freehold land. The project will also include an on-site substation and additional infrastructure.

SREA expects that the project’s construction will support approximately 80 jobs and a further 3 ongoing roles.

The Darnum BESS is one of 8 projects that SREA are developing in Australia, including 7 standalone BESS projects with a combined storage capacity of nearly 1,500 MW. An eighth project in SREA’s pipeline is the Boro Solar project which combines a 150 MW solar farm with a 250 MW/1,500 MWh BESS.

All 8 projects are currently listed on the company’s website as under development.

If all permits and approvals are secured, SREA expects construction to begin in 2027 and take approximately 18 months to complete.

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