Construction starts on Sunshine’s state’s biggest battery after landing first offtake deal with Origin

Construction is underway on one of Australia’s biggest batteries, an 800MW/2000MWh project designed to bolster the south-east Queensland grid, support a major data centre and help usher coal off the grid.

Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners said on Thursday the first $325 million stage of the huge “Supernode” project has reached financial close off the back of an offtake deal with Australia’s biggest electricity retailer, Origin Energy, kicking off construction.

The deal commits Origin to buy the full capacity of the initial 250MW, two-hour battery energy storage system (BESS) under a long-term agreement – a first for the gentailer.

The ambitious battery project, first outlined by Quinbrook in mid-2022, is dubbed Supernode for its ability to accommodate four hyperscale data centre installations and its location next to the central node of the Queensland transmission network, adjacent to the South Pine substation at Brendale near Brisbane.

The site has three direct connections into Queensland’s high voltage transmission grid, two dedicated for battery storage and the third for BESS and data centres.

Quinbrook’s regional lead for Australia, Brian Restall, says the project has been fully developed by the company, from concept, land acquisition, permitting, procurement through to offtake.

“It is a case study in how we create value for our offtakers and investors alike,” he said on Thursday.

For Origin, the deal marks the first time the gentailer has contracted the offtake of a battery, adding to the large-scale batteries it is developing at its Eraring and Mortlake power stations.

​”Storage will play an increasingly important role in the provision of reliable energy supply and we are pleased to be working with Quinbrook to help utilise this additional storage capacity for the market,” said Origin’s executive general manager of energy supply and operations, Greg Jarvis.

Quinbrook co-founder and managing partner David Scaysbrook says the deal with Origin and successful close of Supernode stage one is significant for its promise to deliver “valuable large scale storage at the best possible location” in Queensland’s grid.

“The South Pine site is a unique and strategic location offering unparalleled power supply access and redundancy,” Scaysbrook said on Thursday.

“Supernode also directly addresses stability issues facing the grid as a result of record levels of rooftop solar installation across Queensland.”

This will certainly be important to the comprehensive renewable energy plans of the Queensland Labor government, with a state election looming in October.

Queensland premier Steven Miles welcomed news of the construction of stage one on Thursday, describing the news as “more evidence that business believes in our vision.”

Quinbrook says stage one of the Supernode battery will be delivered in the second half of 2025 with further expansions planned. The project will be delivered using battery cells from an unnamed “globally leading battery manufacturer” and inverters from GE Vernova.

See RenewEconomy’s Big Battery Storage Map of Australia.