Renewables

Energy Insiders Podcast: Energy Estate’s very big storage play

Renew Estate and its related company Energy Estate are quickly emerging as one of the most interesting and astute developers of renewable energy projects in Australia.

Earlier this month, Renew Estate sealed a landmark deal on its Bomen solar farm near Wagga Wagga, signing contracts with Westpac, a leading winemaker and a major snack foods company, and then selling the asset to the network owner who will connect it.

Now, Energy Estate has its eye on a bigger prize. Co-founder and principal Simon Currie tells Energy Insiders that the development application for a 700MW solar farm and a 100MW/200MWh large scale battery have just been filed with the NSW government, the first stage of the proposed 4,000MW Walcha renewable energy project.

This project, which would be the biggest to connect to Australia’s grid, is looking to combine solar, wind, battery storage and pumped hydro.

Currie says it is just one part of the massive changes that are occurring in Australian’s market. Storage is now the key to new wind and solar developments, the push by networks into owning generation assets will be a big change, and new rule changes will play a key role in the shape of the market to come.

You can listen to this and other episodes of Energy Insiders, and our other podcast series Solar Insiders and The Driven, here and on your favourite podcast platform.

Solaray is a proud sponsor of Energy Insiders
Solaray is a proud sponsor of Energy Insiders
wattwatchers is a proud sponsor of Energy Insiders

Join Renew Economy founder and editor-in-chief Giles Parkinson and columnist and energy markets expert David Leitch as they discuss the week's main events - politics, solar and storage.

Energy Insiders Podcast

Join Renew Economy founder and editor-in-chief Giles Parkinson and columnist and energy markets expert David Leitch as they discuss the week's main events - politics, solar and storage.

Share

Recent Posts

Australia’s biggest battery project slashes footprint by 20 pct as it mulls multi-gigawatt hour extension

Rapidly improving battery densities, falling costs and changing market signals behind potential major expansion of…

16 August 2026

S-curve modelling says renewables can kick coal out of Australia by 2032. But is this soon enough?

In the race to renewables, the big question is whether "faster than we thought" is…

14 August 2026

“It’s a commercial system. And it has a customer:” Sodium-ion battery sale hailed as a first for Australia

The sale of a 100 kilowatt and 200 kilowatt-hour sodium-ion battery system is being claimed…

14 August 2026

Energy Insiders Podcast: Will the green bank save the Tomago deal?

CEFC boss Ian Learmonth explains why big wind projects may finally get delivered this year.…

14 August 2026

Balcony solar or building integrated PV? The emerging options for apartment dwellers and owners

A Victorian parliamentary inquiry on apartment energy issues has recently reported and identified several issues…

14 August 2026

CEFC boss says funding deals for new wind and solar farms to power giant smelter still to be sorted

Head of green bank says Tomago green transition deal likely to get big wind projects…

14 August 2026