New four-hour battery storage proposal seeks federal green tick for Australia’s most renewable state grid

Résumé détaillé

A proposed 300 MW and up to four-hour battery located 150 kilometres northeast of Adelaide has joined the federal EPBC queue and is now open for public comment.

A proposed 300 megawatt (MW) and up to four-hour battery located 150 kilometres northeast of Adelaide in South Australia has entered the federal environmental assessment queue and is now open for public comment.

The Riverland battery energy storage system (BESS) is being proposed by Swedish renewable energy developer OX2 and, if approved, will have an energy storage capacity of up to 1,200-megawatt-hours (MWh).

According to the referral document filed with the EPBC Act, the Riverland BESS will be built on private land approximately 10.5 kilometres northeast of Morgan and 150 km northeast of Adelaide and will connect to the nearby Project EnergyConnect 330kV transmission line.

The BESS is expected to consist of 344 battery containers along with 86 associated inverters and transformers, high voltage 330/33 kV transformer equipment and switchyard, the necessary transmission connection infrastructure, and other elements including access roads, security fencing, and temporary buildings.

The project will be built on land being leased from the landowner measuring approximately 479.61 hectares, of which 477.45 hectares comprises native vegetation. Only 49.50 hectares of native vegetation will need to be cleared, making up virtually the whole footprint of the project.

Construction of the battery project is currently expected to begin some time in 2027, with operations expected by 2029.

While OX2’s website for the project promises not only the 300 MW BESS but also an accompanying 330 MW solar farm, the EPBC referral document states that the project has been “refined from a solar and storage development to a BESS development only.”

The documents say that the project “was historically a solar and battery development, however, has still be [sic] refined to include a BESS only.”

Renew Economy has reached out to OX2 representatives in Australia to confirm if the 330 MW solar component has in fact been abandoned.

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