Developer of Australia’s most powerful battery gets green light for new four-hour project

Plans to construct a 400 megawatt, four-hour battery in north-east Victoria have secured all necessary state and federal approvals, after being waved through the federal EPBC queue this week.

The 1600 megawatt-hour (MWh) Glenrowan battery energy storage system (BESS) was on Monday signed off as “not a controlled action” under the federal environmental rules, leaving it free to move to the next stage of development.

The Glenrowan BESS, a joint development of Akaysha Energy and BZ Renewables, was referred for EPBC assessment in mid-April, having secured state development approval in December through the fast tracked Victoria planning process.

According to a map on the project website (pictured below), the battery will be nestled in-between the 150 megawatt (MW) Glenrowan West solar farm and the 85 MW Winton solar farm, both of which are already operational.

Image: Glenrowan BESS, Cogency

The developers say the project will be built on 10 hectares of undeveloped land, next to the existing AusNet terminal station and other electrical infrastructure.

The Blackrock-backed Akaysha has rapidly become a major player in Australia’s big battery market, with 12 battery projects in various stages of operation and development around the country, including two of the 15 biggest batteries in Australia.

Akaysha’s landmark Waratah Super Battery, the most powerful in the country at 850 MW and 1680 MWh, is now acting as a giant “shock absorber” to the grid in New South Wales (NSW), although a transformer failure has seen it operating at just half its rated capacity.

The 415 MW and 1,660 MWh Orana battery, also in NSW, has a federal underwriting agreement through the Capacity Investment Scheme and a 12-year “virtual” offtake deal for a 200 MW component with EnergyAustralia, and has started sending power to the grid as it starts its own commissioning process.

See Renew Economy’s Big Battery Storage Map of Australia for more information.

If you would like to join more than 29,000 others and get the latest clean energy news delivered straight to your inbox, for free, please click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.