Plan for Australia’s biggest solar-battery hybrid, with eight hours storage, get federal green tick

Plans for what stands to be one of Australia’s biggest solar-battery hybrid projects, proposed for the Queensland industrial hub of Gladstone, have been waved through the federal government’s EPBC queue just one month after joining it.

The $1.9 billion Wooderson Solar Farm, which proposes to install 450 megawatts (MW) of solar and a 450 MW, up-to eight hour (3,600 MWh) battery energy storage system (BESS), was this week declared “not a controlled action” by the federal environment minister.

The project’s developers, a joint venture between RES and Energy Estate called Central Queensland Power (CQP), said in a statement on Tuesday that the decision reflected the project’s “strong consideration of environmental and social matters” and its commitment to responsible development.

CQP will no doubt be hoping this is how the Queensland planning department sees things, too, as it prepares to make the journey through the state’s planning approvals process under the LNP government’s amended guidelines. 

“Central Queensland Power is committed to working closely with landholders, industry partners, and the community as the project advances through the state approvals process,” said Mike Whitbread, director of development at CQP.

On size, the project is neck and neck with a number of DC-coupled solar battery hybrids, including Elements Green’s Eurimbula project, which is also proposed for the Gladstone region, but which was just last month slashed the size of its solar component.

According to the EPBC referral documents, the Wooderson project proposes to span 5,618 hectares (ha), with a total disturbance footprint of up to 1,849 ha. Associated infrastructure will include a substation, a connection to the proposed Calvale to Calliope River transmission line and temporary construction compounds and laydown areas.

Image: CQP

Construction would create of up to 680 jobs and, once operational, the project is expected to deliver roughly 1300 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of renewable energy into the National Electricity Market a year – enough to power the equivalent of over 235,000 houses.

As Renew Economy has reported, Gladstone will need plenty of firmed wind and solar to replace the Gladstone Power Station –  Queensland’s largest and oldest coal-fired power plant that is slated to close in 2028.

Rio Tinto, Queensland’s biggest industrial energy user whose major aluminium production assets are located in Gladstone, has made clear the future of its smelters and refineries depend on a switch to renewables and storage.

It has signed several major contracts for wind, solar and solar-battery hybrids, but still needs more projects to replace the Gladstone power source. Other energy hungry industries are also eyeing the area.

CQP says the construction period for the Wooderson project is estimated to take around 37 months and, subject to approvals, expected to start in the first months of 2028. Based on that timoing, operations are forecast to start in the first quarter of 2031.

The company says further site investigations will be undertaken between EPBC approval and the start of work, including geotechnical investigations, cultural heritage surveys and ecology pre-clearance surveys.

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