Singapore’s Vena ditches huge big solar plans, opts for big battery only in central NSW

Singapore renewables developer Vena Energy has pared back plans to install up to 500MW of solar alongside a big battery in central-western New South Wales, ditching the solar component entirely and settling on a stand-alone 408MW, two-hour battery.

Vena, which is also proposing an up to 1GW offshore wind farm off the Victorian coast, says the decision to drop the big solar component of the Bellambi Heights Renewable project was made this year following consideration of further site investigations.

Early concepts for the former “Gulgong Solar Farm” in Beryl had been put to local community and stakeholders in 2019 as a project proposing 500MW of solar and 600MW of battery with a massive six hours of storage capacity.

Community feedback then led to Vena reducing the project’s development footprint by more than 50%. A scoping report submitted to the NSW Department of Planning and Environment in 2022 proposed a 200MW solar farm and 200MW BESS [battery energy storage system].

In March this year, however, the decision was made to sacrifice the solar farm entirely and shoot for a bigger big battery.

In a project update to the NSW planning department, Vena says the primary reasons for the removal of solar plans include “a reduction in developable area” following ongoing environmental assessments, particularly due to flooding and biodiversity concerns.

“The reduction in project footprint would have resulted in a solar farm design with a generation capacity
significantly less than originally proposed,” the letter says.

“VEA concluded that a solar farm with a constrained buildable footprint, in the proposed location, given the economic market, is not considered feasible.”

As it now stands, the Bellambi Heights Battery Energy Storage System proposes a 408MW BESS capable of providing up to two hours of storage which Vena says it expects to be built in two stages at up to 204MW per stage or 408MW in one stage.

Located about 6.5km north-west of Gulgong, the project site in the Mid-Western Regional Council area and the Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone.

Vena says the project site has “optimal conditions” for a big battery, with cleared land a strong existing point of connection to the transmission network.

“There is a need for storage within the network as security and reliability become increasingly important aspects in the transition to renewable energy generation,” the project site says.

The Project has now commenced Public Exhibition which is the third stage of the Environmental Impact Assessment.

The Development Application is currently on public exhibition for another 11 days via the Major Project Portal before a final decision is made by the NSW Department of Planning and Environment.

Regional New South Wales has been at the centre of a new wave of anti-renewables sentiment around Australia, with large-scale solar development in particular being cast as a direct threat to farmers and their livelihood.

Last year, local landowners were reported to be gearing up to fight development of a 400MW solar farm and big battery near Goulburn even before the community consultation process had begun – as unsuitable for the “agricultural nature of Gundary Plains.”

The year before that, the NSW chapter of the Country Women’s Association of Australia voted to call on governments to prevent solar farms from being developed in prime agricultural areas.

Vena also owns the Tailem Bend solar farm in South Australia and the Wandoan South battery in Queensland, and is waiting for the second stage of the Tailem Bend solar farm and a neighbouring battery to be commissioned.