Construction starts on AC-coupled battery to “unlock full potential” of operating solar farm

Construction has started on a two-hour big battery that is being coupled with an existing solar farm and will share its connection to the grid in northern Victoria.

The Australian arm of Danish developer European Energy said on Friday that its team has started building the 80 megawatt-hour (MWh) battery at Mokoan Solar Farm and was hoping to have it “up and running” by the middle of 2027.

“Batteries are crucial for EE and the whole industry. They will truly unlock the full potential of wind and solar and provide more renewable energy when it’s needed most,” the managing director of European Energy Australia, Catriona McLeod, said on LinkedIn.

“We’ll be doing a lot in this space in the back end of 2026 and into 2027 so there are plenty more announcements to come.”

The Mokoan battery energy storage system (BESS) will be AC-coupled to the operational 58 MW solar farm – meaning it will share the one connection to the grid and operate as one asset.

The battery addition at Mokoan achieved financial close last month, after Deutsche Bank provided a non-recourse package to refinance the existing debt on the solar farm, and to support construction and operation of the co-located energy storage system.

At the time, European Energy deputy CEO Jens Peter Zink said AC-coulpled assets like Mokoan, that combine solar and storage to offer stable production and operational flexibility, were becoming increasingly attractive to institutional investors.

“Our battery portfolio is expanding across markets, and securing financing for this co-located storage system in Australia is an important milestone,” Zink said on Monday in a statement announcing the deal.

The Mokoan deal followed the announcement of financial close on European Energy’s Winton North project, one of Australia’s first solar and battery hybrid projects – and part of a big shift away from wind to more bankable projects where the cost of technologies are falling rather than rising.

Winton North – which combines 130 MW of solar and a 100 MW, 220 MWh big battery south of Wangaratta in Victoria – is under construction and due for completion this year, and is underpinned by a power purchase agreement with Amazon. Amazon has also contracted an offtake deal with the Mokoan BESS.

European Energy Australia’s Mokoan solar farm has been fully operational since June 2025 after being selected under federal Labor’s Capacity Investment Scheme.

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