New big battery joins approval queue amid rush to secure sites in popular New England REZ

Armidale locals may be in for some confusion with the latest battery proposed for the outskirts of their town: The 400 megawatt (MW)/1760MWh (four hours duration) Gara battery energy storage system (BESS) is about 12km outside Armidale.

But ‘Gara’ was not the first choice.

The original title that developer Acenergy marketed to the public was the Armidale Big BESS.

But on realising early last year that it wouldn’t be as large as some other other projects in the wider area, the name was changed to Armidale Energy Storage Park.

This was advertised to the public via the website and a newsletter, but the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Planning took issue with this too, given how similar it is to the Armidale BESS. 

It’s third time lucky with Gara, the name of a river close to the 14 hectare site, according to the scoping report for the NSW planning application. The company says the name also reflects a number of previous energy projects in the area including the Gara dam and historic Gara hydroelectric project.

Acenergy is expecting to race through state and federal approval processes for the new battery project, with construction expected to start at the end of this year. 

The Gara BESS is currently at the earliest stages of both the New South Wales (NSW) planning process – it’s at stage two of eight – and doing public consultation under the EBPC process in order to find out if it will require federal sign off. 

The BESS will connect to Transgrid’s existing 330kV network via a new underground or overhead transmission line. The scoping report suggests an operational lifespan 40 years, although the company says that is more likely to be 23 years. 

And being smack in the middle of arguably NSW’s most contentious renewable energy zone (REZ), New England, means it’s got a lot of neighbours.

The 115MWac Metz and 5MW Une solar farms are running now while three small solar farms, the Armidale, Stringybark and Olive Grove proposals, were approved some years ago but are not yet built. 

The 215MW Oxley solar farm, the 100MW Eathorpe BESS and 150 MW/300MWh Armidale BESS are in the state planning queue.

While Acenergy’s scoping report didn’t think the cumulative effects of so many projects being underway around Armidale was an issue, the local council did, adding Ark Energy’s 340MW Doughby wind farm to its list of proposed projects in the area. 

“Consideration needs to be given to the high likelihood that  a number of these projects will be under construction during similar timeframes, given the urgency to have these renewables brought online prior to the retirement of the coal fired power stations,” the council wrote in its response to the scoping report. 

The council’s fears may not be as warranted as they expect, just yet. 

Ark Energy dumped Doughboy in July last year, not two months after the Gara BESS scoping report was published, citing landowners changing their minds. 

The Stringybark project may also be dead in the water, given the company was de-registered in April last year. 

The council also noted that koalas have been seen on or near the site. And although Acenergy’s EBPC application said the types of trees were not koala habitat, koalas, several species of birds and quolls, and some native vegetation are all in the area or close enough to send the project to the federal EPBC.