A subsidiary of Chinese solar company and project developer Risen Energy is proposing a new four-hour lithium battery storage project at Coleambally in the Riverina region of New South Wales, adjacent to the existing Coleambally solar farm.
The proposed battery would have an anticipated capacity of 100 MW/400MWh, with the energy stored able to be supplied to the national grid. It would be composed of four battery system blocks with one power conversion system (PCS) each, and a substation.
The project, which has an estimated 35 to 40-year lifespan, is pitching itself as a balancing solution to the volatility of renewable energy generation as the state transitions away from fossil fuels.
Risen says the Coleambally battery will store electricity for use during periods of low renewables output, which it says will be crucial as the country’s most dependent coal state transitions from centralised to decentralised power generation as its remaining coal fired plants are decommissioned.
“Greater utilisation of large-scale battery storage in conjunction with other dispatchable energy resources may decrease peak wholesale prices,” the report says,
According to its EIS, the 4-hectare project site has minimal existing vegetation and no mapped heritage sites. No threatened flora were recorded on site, but one threatened bird was identified, the Superb Parrot (Polytelis swainsonii).
The project is also supposed to have minimal visual impacts on the area given its remoteness, and is slated to employ 80 people during peak construction.
Renewable energy storage will be needed to protect Australia’s grid from a bumpy energy transition. The report notes that more than 2.3GW of storage capacity, with varying storage lengths, will be required to support the NSW government renewable roadmap.
Big batteries will also be able to provide the stabilising and other grid benefits that coal-fired power stations currently perform.
ARENA has allocated $176 million of conditional funding to eight major battery storage projects across Australia last year. That funding was not awarded to Coleambally project, but another Risen Energy project, the Bungama big battery in South Australia, is a recipient and will include grid forming inverters.
Risen also owns the 100MW Merredin solar farm in Western Australia, newly crowned as the best performing solar project in the country in 2022, and the Yarranlea solar farm in Queensland.
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