Huge solar farm and big battery seeks federal green tick

Plans to develop a massive solar farm and big battery in the New South Wales Central-West Orana region have joined the queue for assessment under the federal government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

Acen Australia’s Birriwa solar and battery project proposes to build a 600MW solar farm alongside a battery energy storage system (BESS) of up to 600 MW with two hours of storage capacity, about 20km southeast of Dunedoo.

According to the project website, the solar farm and big battery would connect to the Merotherie Energy Hub, one of two grid upgrades EnergyCo is developing to accommodate the up to 4.5GW of new generation capacity expected to be added to the Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (REZ).

The major transmission upgrades proposed for the Central-West Orana REZ got their federal green tick just last week.

Acen says in documents submitted to the EPBC portal that the Birriwa project is being referred over potential impacts to listed threatened species and ecological communities – but that it is “not likely to have a significant impact on any matters of national environmental significance.”

The documents note that the majority of the land proposed for the solar and battery project is owned privately between five landowners, and that Acen has entered into agreements with all of them. There are also some parcels of Crown land in the referral area.

The Birriwa project is also still awaiting state planning approval, which is in the hands of the NSW Independent Planning Commission after the proposal attracted 89 unique submissions from the public, 85 of which objected to the project, while four “provided comment.”

The Warrumbungle Shire Council, which also objected to the project, raised concerns about the cumulative impact on the region from renewables development in the CWO REZ and over impacts on the local roads.

In June, a public meeting was hosted by the NSW IPC to ensure as many people as possible could have “the opportunity to be heard” on their concerns about the state significant project. The IPC also conducted a site inspection at Birriwa the day before the public meeting.

In its own evaluation of Birriwa solar and battery, the NSW planning department said the project “would not result in any significant reduction in the overall agricultural productivity of the region,” and had addressed other concerns raised in submissions with planning changes and recommended conditions of consent.

“Importantly, the project would assist in transitioning the electricity sector from coal and gas-fired power stations to low-emissions sources,” it adds.

“The Department considers [the project] achieves an appropriate balance between maximising the efficiency of solar resource development and minimising the potential impact on surrounding land users and the environment.”

According to the EPBC referral documents, the solar and battery project will require a total construction workforce of up to 800, which the average construction workforce throughout the 28 month development period estimate at around 360 people for the solar farm and 170 people for the battery.

Elswhere in NSW, Acen is nearing completion of what will be – at least for a time – the biggest solar farm in Australia, the 720 MW New England project that is being built over two stages.

The Philippines-based renewable energy developer plans to build a massive battery next to that solar project, sized at 1,400 MW and 2.8 GWh, or two hours of storage.

The company is also planning a 200 MW / 200 MWh battery next to the 400 MW Stubbo solar farm that is also under construction, and is proposing to add battery back-up at its Naragamba, Deeargee and Axedale solar farms. 

And last month it added another solar-battery project into the NSW planning pipeline, in this case a 100 megawatt (MW) solar facility and an 80 MW battery to be built near Cooma at the gateway to the Snowy Mountains.