The South Korea industrial giant Samsung has unveiled yet another battery storage project in Australia, this time however proposing to use Tesla battery packs, rather than its own brand.
Samsung C&T Renewable Energy Australia has revealed its plans for a 100 megawatt (MW)/400 MWh battery project called Mangoplah near Wagga Wagga in the south-west of NSW.
Its application for approval under the federal EPBC Act published this week reveals it plans to install some 108 Tesla Megapacks at the site, which will sit about 3km from the town of Mangoplah, and about 30km from the Wagga Wagga regional centre. Â
Renew Economy is seeking comment from Samsung C&T about its choice of battery technology.
Samsung C&T’s EPBC documents show there is a historic exploitation licence for mining over the area, but no current extractive licence. The 10.4 hectare site itself is a combination of cropped paddocks, grasslands, woodlands and exotic pasture.
The site where Samsung C&T is looking for its Mangoplah BESS is currently cropping land. Image: Samsung C&T
The area is increasingly familiar with renewable energy developments, with the Gregadoo, Livingstone and Bomen solar farms and the Belhaven BESS proposed for the area. Other big developments include the Hume Link and Project Energy Connect transmission projects which dip into the Wagga Wagga region.
The cumulative effects of all of these projects happening at once was one concern raised by the regional council in its first formal response to the project under the NSW planning process.
The council wants Samsung C&T to think hard about how it plans to house the 60 people expected to be needed for the 12-18 month period of construction.
It also recommended the developer think about giving “consideration to a permanent community allocation of energy, that supports community infrastructure of residents”, as part of efforts to win locals over to the project.
Samsung C&T has been investigating the project since 2023, but is yet to reveal its community benefits scheme and is still in the early stages of the state planning process, with an environmental impact statement (EIS) currently underway.
The original scoping report anticipated construction to start in 2027 and operations to begin in 2028 or 2029.
Samsung C&T is currently developing five solar farms totalling 1.28GW of capacity, each with an associated BESS, and six standalone batteries worth 2.82GW, all in NSW and Queensland, according to Renew Map.
Not included in that count is the 250 MW Romani solar farm which was to come with a 150 MW, 600 MWh battery. That project won approval from the federal EBPC but wasn’t one of the four project to win access rights in the South West renewable energy zone (REZ) – so Samsung C&T cancelled it.
A separate standalone 200 MW/800 MWh battery at the same location however is going ahead.
It is also involved with the 1000MW Western Giga Energy hydrogen concept proposed for Geraldton in Western Australia.
