Western Downs solar project. Source: Neoen.
Neoen Australia, arguably the country’s most successful renewables and storage developer, has reclaimed the title of owning the biggest operating solar farm in the country, and has received funding for three big battery projects after claiming more than a third of prize in the government’s grid forming battery tender.
The Western Downs solar farm in Queensland will be officially rated at 400MW (ac) one it is complete and fully operational in coming months. It is currently working through the commissioning process and over the last few days has reached a new hold point that allowed it to generate at up to 286MW on Monday morning.
That allows it to claim the mantle of biggest operating solar farm from the 275MW Darlington Point facility in NSW. Neoen previously held the title with the 149MW Coleambally solar farm, also in NSW.
The Western Downs green energy hub will soon add a new big battery, following Neoen’s success in the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s funding round for grid forming inverters, which can mimic the inertia and other grid services of coal, gas and hydro generators.
The Hopeland battery – 200MW and 400MWh – will be located next to the Western Downs facility, and is one of two new big batteries in Queensland that will emerge from the tender.
Neoen also won funding to retrofit the Moorabool battery, also known as the Victoria Big Battery – with grid forming inverters. That battery is currently the biggest in the country at 300MW and 450MWh.
Neoen’s proposed Blyth battery in South Australia also won funding in the ARENA round. The ARENA deal is for 200MW and 400MWh, although Neoen has previously flagged the battery could be sized at up to 300MW and 800MWh.
The Blyth battery will also play an important role in Neoen’s landmark power deal to deliver 24/7 renewables (70MW), largely from the Goyder South wind farm that is now under construction.
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