AGL ready to press go on first wind and battery project after getting approval for bigger turbines
Australian coal giant AGL Energy is ready to press go on its first combined wind and battery project later this year after gaining new approvals.
AGL bought the South Australian project in 2009, but later sidelined it as it chose to focus on a buying spree of coal fired generators instead.
When AGL bought the Barn Hill project in the state’s mid-north, it had approval for 62 turbines and would have been sized at around 150 MW.
It was one of around 2 GW of renewable projects that were put on hold after AGL decided in 2011 to go all in on coal and became the country’s biggest coal fired generator.
With AGL shifting tack again, it went back to apply to state authorities for new approvals for Barn Hill, because wind turbines are now much bigger than they were more than a decade ago.
The Barn Hill project will now comprise a wind component of up to 50 turbines and a vastly increased capacity of up to 360 MW, and it will also feature a big battery sized at up to 270 MW and 1080 MWh.
A financial investment decision is expected later this year, at least for the wind component, and likely later for the big battery.
The project is located around 5 km from the town of RedHill, and is sited across the road from the existing Snowtown wind farms and not far from the Clements Gap wind farm.
South Australia already leads the country, and the world, with wind and solar meeting more than 72% of demand over the last 12 months, and it aims to reach 100% “net” renewables by 2027.
The project is one of a number of new battery projects being built by AGL, which operates the Torrens Island battery and the Broken Hill battery, and is building a giant battery at the site of its shuttered coal plant Liddell.
It aims to have up to 5 GW of new generation and firming capacity in place before 2030 and a total of 12 GW in place by 2036, when the last of its coal fired generators will have shut down.