Massive 520 MW battery proposed for historic sheep and cattle station near Canberra

A massive 520 megawatt battery project has been proposed for a historic sheep and cattle grazing station near the national capital.

The Flat Rock battery project, put forward by Quinbrook Infrastructure and its development offshoot Private Equity Partners, is proposed for Uriarra Station, a 1,200 hectare property located about 30 kms north-west of the Canberra CBD and close to the NSW border.

Quinbrook brought the property in May this year, and has quickly moved to secure local and federal environmental approvals, with its proposal filed under the EPBC Act late last week.

Uriarra Station is one of the largest and oldest pastoral holdings in the ACT and is known for having hosted former US president Richard Nixon in 1953 and a host of other dignitaries.

Quinbrook says the Flat Rock battery will cover only about 10 per cent of the property’s land area, and it will continue to be used for grazing activities. No mature trees will be removed, and Quinbrook says the environmental impact will be minimal as it will sited on mostly non-native grassland. Young trees will be planted along the border of the project.

The battery will be located around 2 kms from Uriarra village.

The storage size of the battery has not been specified in the EPBC planning portal, although it is likely to be have at least four hours of storage, possibly more given the changing requirements of the grid, so will hold at least 2,100 MWh of storage capacity.

That will make it one of the biggest battery projects in the country, although well short of the possible 1 gigawatt and 5 gigawatt hours of the Supernode battery in Brisbane, that is also being built by Quinbrook

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