Spanish energy giant starts building new solar and big battery hybrid project in Queensland

Spanish energy giant Iberdrola says it has begun construction on a new solar and battery hybrid project in central Queensland, the first facility that it has built in the Sunshine state.

The Broadsound solar and battery project will feature a 376 MW (dc) solar component and a 180 MW, 360 MWh battery storage facility.

It is located at Clarke Creek, around two hours north of Rockhampton, and not far from the 400 MW Clarke Creek wind project being built by Andrew Forrest’s Squadron Energy.

The project is one of a number planned by Iberdola as it seeks to build out 4 gigawatts of new renewable and storage assets across the country, including the proposed 1,000 MW Mt James wind project in Queensland.

Iberdola several years ago bought the Australian listed renewable energy developer Infigen Energy, and its biggest investment since then has been in the Port Augusta Renewable Energy Hub in South Australia the country’s first large scale wind and solar hybrid project

“After providing energy to Australian customers, including Queensland commercial and industrial businesses, for many years we’re excited to soon be able to generate energy in locally here with the Broadsound Solar Farm and BESS project,” Ross Rolfe, the CEO and chairman of Iberdrola Australia said in a statement.

“With more than 20 years experience working in Australian communities we’re looking forward to this big step into the Queensland market and adding to our 1.7 GW of energy assets in operation across the country.”

Iberdrola expects the project to be completed by 2026. The company has established a community benefit fund that includes local regeneration projects and fauna movement corridors.

It will be by far the company’s biggest solar project to date, overtaking the 247 MW Avonlie solar project in NSW and the 107 MW solar component in the Port Augusta hybrid facility.

It has also started commissioning the 145 MW Flyer Creek wind project in NSW, and has won a permit to investigate wind farms in a state pine forest in NSW and a licence to investigate an offshore wind project in Gippsland.

The addition of a new solar project in the Sunshine state is an interesting move, given the high levels of curtailment that often afflict the sector, particularly in the middle of the day when rooftop solar dominates production and the coal generators bid negative prices to avoid switching off completely.

The addition of the battery, however, will help solve some of those issues – charging when the solar farm might otherwise be curtailed, and enabling to sell power into the grid in the evening peaks, and provide grid services and security.

Beon and Yurika have been chosen as the main contractors for the Broadsound project.