Huge four-hour battery secures final approval to become one of biggest in state

Another massive, up to four-hour battery has a green light for construction in Queensland, the latest for the revival of the Swanbank coal power station site. 

The EPBC has waved through the Blackstone battery energy storage system (BESS) for construction at a site south of Ipswich, deeming anything up to 500 megawatt (MW) with 2,000 megawatt-hour (MWh) of storage is not a controlled action.

However, developer Octopus Investments’ website and the state approval received back in 2024 are for a 1,000 MWh storage capacity. 

Renew Economy is seeking clarification from Octopus. 

If built with four-hour energy storage configuration, the Blackstone BESS will rank among the biggest batteries in the state, although it will be trumped by Quinbrook’s Supernode batteries which are already at 1,858 MWh from the first two stages already operating, and destined to grow to more than 3,000 MWh from the third stage now being built.

Previously, Renew Economy reported on Octopus Investments’ hopes of building later this year and having the battery fully commissioned in 2029. 

The Swanbank site is 6 km south-east of Ipswich, and historically been associated with the energy industry, 

The battery will plug into the Swanbank sub station and will be located very close to the 250 MW, 500 MWh Swanbank battery being built by CleanCo as part of its plans to transform the site that once housed two coal-fired power plants into a clean energy hub.

The original plan for the battery was to redistribute renewable energy from during the day to evening peaks.

It’s a role that has just become even more useful as the duck curve, the amount of energy no longer needed from gas or coal power stations, turns into a dolphin – the amount of electricity being curtailed from wind and solar sources. 

The Blackstone battery will sit on about 9 hectares of land that was once used for open cut and underground coal mining operations. 

Of this, 3 hectares is considered koala habitat, although Octopus claims this is “in moderate to degraded condition,” according to the EPBC referral. 

The Blackstone BESS joins other projects at Swanbank. Zebre has EPBC permission for the 180 MW, 360 MWh Noblevale battery, and CleanCo’s own 250 MW, 500 MWh Swanbank battery started working earlier this year.

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