Australia: Zen Energy sees solar-plus-storage site with up to 8-hour BESS approved in 17 days

Australia’s minister for the environment, Murray Watt, noted that the approval process for the project took just 17 days.

“This was made possible because the 267-hectare project site was designed so its environmental impacts were minimised,” Watt added.

“It will be located on predominantly cleared land, so there’s an option for agricultural use on the site, including sheep grazing through the solar array, demonstrating once again that there’s ways for renewables and agriculture to work together.”

Previous reporting by Energy-Storage.news confirmed that the co-located BESS will be a 200MW system. However, it will be between 4-8 hours in duration, meaning it could be anywhere between 800MWh and 1,600MWh. It will be co-located with a 100MW solar PV power plant.

It will be located 7km southeast of Woolooga, a rural town in the Gympie Region of Queensland..

According to documents submitted under the EPBC Act, the project will span 267 hectares across two freehold lots, comprising primarily unimproved land used for agricultural grazing.

Little is known about the development, but it will be connected to the National Electricity Market (NEM) via underground cables to the Queensland SuperGrid. It will then be controlled by ZEBRE, a joint venture that has been rapidly expanding its presence in the Australian renewables and energy storage market.

For instance, in early May, ZEBRE acquired the 111MW/333MWh Templers BESS in South Australia, which, once completed, is claimed to be the second-largest in the state.

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