Texas solar and battery hybrid project seeks green tick for the border of NSW and Queensland

The Australian arm of Saudi-owned Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) is seeking a federal green tick for plans to build a hybrid solar and battery project with up to four hours of energy storage capacity on the border of New South Wales and Queensland.

The proposed Texas Solar Farm would have a PV generation capacity of up to 200 megawatts and a battery energy storage system (BESS) of up to 550 MW/2200 megawatt-hours (MWh), according to documents referred for assessment under the the federal EPBC Act.

FRV Services Australia says the project, proposed for construction near the town of Texas would include around 550,000 panels mounted on single axis tracking systems and a BESS grouped in containerised modules near a substation.

According to the referral documents, the project was first publicised in September 2024, via a postcard insert in the local paper the MacIntyre Gazette that was distributed to 755 properties in Texas, Bonshaw and Yetman. An advertisement for community drop-in sessions was distributed in March 2025.

The developer says phone calls and emails were received enquiring about project specifics, commercial opportunities such as housing, earthworks and contracting, and funding opportunities for Texas Hospital and gym upgrades and the Texas Railway Museum.

“Although only a small number of people attended the [March drop-in] sessions, the conversations were constructive with members of the local roadhouse and hospital, Bonshaw Fire Brigade, Texas Industries, a Yetman farmer and interested local residents,” the documents say.

“Attendees were all generally supportive of the project and interested to find out more as investigations progress.”

FRV says discussion and questions centred around the accommodation for the project’s construction workforce and how this would be integrated with the town, what infrastructure and health services would needed, and interest in purchasing shops and houses in anticipation of a growing population.

FRV last year switched on a solar/battery hybrid project in Dalby, Queensland, marking one of the first projects in Australia to take advantage of a rule change that allowed different renewable energy generators and batteries to share a grid connection point.

At around the same time, the company refinanced its entire portfolio of eight solar farms and a battery energy energy storage system (BESS) in a massive $1.2 billion deal involving eleven international and domestic backers.

The Texas solar farm and battery adds to FRV’s existing Australian portfolio of almost 1 gigawatt (GW) of solar and 102.5 MW / 205 MWh of batteries, including six operational solar farms, a hybrid solar and BESS project, the 100MW/200MWh Terang BESS which is in Victoria, and the Walla Walla solar farm under construction in NSW. 

FRV is also still proposing to build the Gnarwarre BESS, a 250MW/500MWh project that it bought from Ace Energy in 2021 alongside the Terang battery.

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