Supersized solar and battery project sails through EPBC, still working through state approvals

A massive and recently supersized new solar and battery project in the south-west of New South Wales has sailed through the federal environmental process, although it is still working through planning approvals from the state government.

The Strontian solar project, proposed by Spanish renewables developer Grupo Cobra, would be one of the biggest solar and battery projects in the country, combining a 383 megawatt (MW-dc) solar farm with a 333 MW, up to 2,664 megawatt hour (MWh) battery.

The project is located about 17 kms from Narrandera, right next to already existing Avonlie solar farm, owned by another Spanish company Iberdrola.

It is also sited under a 330 kv transmission line, and in a region that has a number of other projects in the pipeline, including the Devlins Bridge wind project, and the Yarrabee and Sandigo solar projects.

The Strontian project was originally submitted as a 370 MW (dc) solar farm, with a two-hour battery, but earlier this month Cobra advised authorities that the solar component has been expanded and the battery has been supersized to an eight hour battery, with four times more storage than first proposed.

It did not provide a reason for the changes but it is likely to be a result of both the plunging cost of battery storage, and the new push for solar-battery hybrids to have enough storage to push the solar farm’s output well in to the evening demand peaks, and even the morning ones.

Grupo Cobra noted that the proposed project changes will accommodated for within the existing project site boundary and would not result in any additional land parcels. 

The project is on land with a single owner, currently used for cropping but likely to be repurposed for sheep grazing under the more than 650,000 solar panels.

The Strontian project has been waved through the EPBC process by the federal department of climate change and energy, but is yet to file its full environmental impact statement with the state planning authorities.

Its scoping report notes that the project will be built on flat land, mostly already cleared for agricultural purposes. It back on to the Buckingbong state forest.

It says up to 300 workers will be required during construction, which it proposes to be accommodated in existing hotels, motels, caravan parks and Airbnb accommodation in Narrandera.

“If accommodation constraints were to emerge during preparation of the SIA, the project team will develop alternative worker accommodation strategies within the broader region,” it notes.

Cobra, which has extensive conventional and renewable energy assets in Spain, Europe and the Americas, is a key member of the consortium building the infrastructure for the Central West Orana renewable zone in NSW. Strontian would be one of its first renewable projects in Australia.

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