The first sod has been turned at a the site of a big battery being developed in Newcastle, New South Wales, marking the beginning of construction for the project and a new milestone for distribution network company Ausgrid’s first foray into utility-scale energy storage.
Ausgrid’s 200 megawatt (MW), 400 megawatt-hour (MWh) Steel River battery energy storage system (BESS) is being built next to an existing substation in the Steel River Industrial Estate in Mayfield West, in northern Newcastle.
The project was approved for construction in late March by the NSW Independent Planning Commission (IPC), having been sent there after attracting 61 public objections to its development, mostly from people living hundreds of kilometres away from the project.
A report on the submissions notes that “no submissions were received from the suburb of Mayfield (where the project is located),” while “all three submissions within 50 km of the project location were in support.”
“The remaining 61 submissions were received from outside of a 50 km radius of the project and were in objection. In total, 24 of the 64 submissions were received from outside of NSW, including six submissions from Queensland, one from Tasmania and 17 from Victoria.
One submission, from an anonymous party located in Lake Albert, NSW – around 600 km south-west of Newcastle, described the Steel River BESS as “an unethical storm of neglect and abuse of nature.”
The Commission ultimately determined that the battery should be approved, due to being consistent with NSW energy and climate policies and supportive to the state’s transition to “a stable and reliable lower-carbon energy system.”
Since clearing final approvals, the project is being developed by Plus Grid Storage, a partnership between the NSW government, IFM Investors, APG Group and AustralianSuper. It is Plus Grid Storage’s first grid-scale battery project.
“Today marks the start of an exciting new chapter for PLUS Grid Storage,” said Kelly Wood in a statement on Friday. “Steel River East is the first of several battery projects in our development pipeline and demonstrates our commitment to investing in the infrastructure needed to support Australia’s evolving energy system.
“Projects like Steel River East will help improve reliability, support energy security and create long- term value for the communities we serve.”
Once complete, Steel River East will feature 112 Tesla Megapack 2XL battery units, each weighing in at around 38,000 kilograms. To support this weight, about 2,200 cubic metres of concrete will be poured and more than 200 tonnes of reinforcing steel will be used throughout construction.
The Steel River BESS is one of three big batteries to be originated by Ausgrid, the other being a battery of the same capacity and storage duration proposed for Homebush, that is also being developed by Plus Grid Storage.
Another battery in the works for Ausgrid, but still seeking state approval, is the Rothbury BESS – proposed for the NSW Hunter region with a capacity of up to 135 MW and storage of up to 540 MWh.
The Rothbury BESS attracted 65 objections during its public exhibition stage and so will be sent to the IPC for assessment.
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