Contested big battery with up to 10 hours of storage gets final green light

Iberdrola’s big, contested battery near Tamworth has run through the federal government’s EPBC process in just seven weeks, receiving a wave-through from the federal environment minister in the dying days of May. 

The 100 megawatts (MW), 1,080 megawatt-hours (MWh) Kingswood battery is just six kilometres south-east of Tamworth.

With state and federal approvals in hand, the project is just waiting on a connection agreement with network owner Transgris before construction is set to start later this year. 

The way through the New South Wales (NSW) planning process wasn’t quite as quick as the EPBC, which decided it wasn’t a controlled action. 

Starting in 2023 with a proposal for a $700 million battery, the project received its state approval in December and was immediately referred to the Independent Planning Commission, thanks to receiving more than 50 objections. 

The final Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure report noted there were 34 objections from people living within 5km of the project, six from within 50km and 27 from further away, of which four were interstate.

That added another three months to the process and included three panel meetings, a site visit and local one-on-one meetings. 

The original design was for a 270 MW battery, but dropping that to 100 MW allowed Iberdrola to win one of the NSW Long-Term Energy Service Agreements (LTESA) for storage that is eight hours or more, in February. 

The area is a popular one as the Tamworth substation provides direct access to the local grid. 

The nearby 250 MW, 500 MWh Calala battery, owned by Equis Australia, which has won an underwriting deal with the federal government’s Capacity Investment Scheme, has begun construction, and Valent Energy’s 200 MW, 400 MWh Tamworth battery project is right next door to Kingswood.

Trinasolar is also looking at the area with a pitch to put the up to 200 MW, 400–800 MWh Burgmanns battery right next to the substation.

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