South Australia solar battery hybrid project passes EPBC test with minimal conditions

Zen Energy’s hybrid Solar River battery and solar project has passed through the federal EPBC process with minimal environmental conditions attached.

The only conditions are that Zen can’t clear or build outside its development footprint or “action area”, and it can’t clear any Plains Mallee Box woodland, in addition to administrative and compliance monitoring and reporting. 

The permission is for the 230 megawatt (MW) solar facility and a co-located battery providing up to 2,048 megawatt hours (MWh) of storage. 

The project, however, says it’s still only planning for a 256 MW, 650 MWh battery at the site north of the Bundey substation, the all important jumping off point for the interstate ProjectConnect transmission line. 

Construction is expected to commence this year and will start supplying electricity to South Australian electricity users in 2027.

The project was a winner of the first of the federal government’s expanded Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) rounds, and in July it secured a grid connection. 

The hybrid project, which means the battery is connected behind-the-meter to the solar farm and can charge directly from it, is the biggest in the ZEBRE joint venture. 

The ZEBRE partnership between Zen Energy and Taiwanese equity partner HD Renewable Energy (HDRE), which signed up in November 2024 to spend $43 million on a 9.7 per cent stake in the Ross Garnaut-backed Zen.

Alongside the Solar River project, the ZEBRE joint venture is developing another five projects across four states, including the 111 MW Templers Battery north of Adelaide, which is now in commissioning, and the 105 MW Wagga North battery in southern NSW, and the 210 MW North Yarragon battery in Victoria’s Gippsland region. 

The final two projects are both in south-east Queensland: the 200 MW Hookey Creek battery and 100 MW solar project and the 180 MW Noblevale battery.

Solar River is just one of a cluster around the Bundey substation, where five other battery projects are positioning themselves within 3km of the facility and another two are within 10km, according to data from RenewMap. 

Zooming out, there are 23 wind and solar projects either operating or under development with 4,759 MW of generating capacity, clustered in a 75km radius around Bundey.

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