Golden Plains wind farm developer seeks green tick for four-hour big battery – potentially its first in Australia

Portuguese renewable developer TagEnergy is seeking federal environmental approval for a proposed four-hour, 150-megawatt (MW) battery energy storage system (BESS) in the small Western Australian town of Ravenswood.

The proposed Paterson BESS appeared in the federal government’s environmental approval queue last week, kicking off a two-week period inviting public comment, which will end on November 21.

TagEnergy, the developer behind the mammoth Golden Plains wind farm being built in Victoria, is proposing to connect the battery to the adjacent Pinjarra substation, minimising the infrastructure necessary to connect the project to the grid.

In addition to the battery storage containers and electrical inverters, a project substation will be built along with all ancillary infrastructure including fences and access roads.

The Patterson BESS was originally developed by specialist early-stage developer ACE Power, and is part of the pipeline of projects TagEnergy picked up after it acquired ACE in August.

Once operational, the project will assist in firming Western Australia’s electricity network and improving the resiliency of the network, storing energy at times of network oversupply and supplying it back to the grid at times of peak demand.

While virtually all such project must enter the queue for environmental approval under Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, the proposed Paterson BESS could pose a direct risk to the Carnaby’s cockatoo (Zanda latirostris), one of three protected Threatened black cockatoo species.

After meeting with representatives from the EPA Services Green Energy division of the federal Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, it was concluded that the developers had completed their due diligence and that the project was unlikely to be referred to the EPA.

Further, the environmental assessment conducted prior to referral concluded that “due to the existing landscape condition and limited clearing required, any impact [to the Threatened Black Cockatoo species] is not expected to be significant.”

This marks potentially the first big battery project in Australia for TagEnergy, although it is also considering a similar 150 MW/600 MWh BESS to be sited next to its Golden Plains wind farm, which at 1.34 gigawatts will be the biggest wind farm in Australia when complete.