100 MW battery storage facility proposed for rural Queensland town

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Plans for a 100 MW / 200 MWh battery storage facility with up to two hours depth have been submitted to Queensland’s Rockhampton Regional Council in a development application.

Filed by global infrastructure firm AECOM on behalf on Sydney-based developer Genex Power Limited, the system is being proposed in the rural town Bouldercombe, just over 20km south of Rockhampton.

The system will be composed of rechargeable lithium-ion battery modules in an enclosure with integrated bi-directional power conversion, local media outlet the Morning Bulletin reports. Genex plans to co-locate the storage facility on Powerlink’s Bouldercombe Substation on the Burnett Highway, according to the media outlet.

AECOM was not yet able to share details of the proposal with pv magazine Australia however, nor has Genex Power Limited issued a press release on the plan.

According to the the Morning Bulletin, the development application cites studies showing upgrades to transmission infrastructure in the National Electricity Market are required to cope with the variable nature of wind and solar power, posing the project as key to responding to the challenge.

Australia’s notoriously rickety grid is one of the major hurdles the country faces in its renewable energy transition, but companies are have been seeking to plug the hole with energy storage project proposals. Barely a fortnight in and 2021 has seen a slew of battery announcements, including Origin Energy’s plans for a 700 MW megabattey in NSW’s Hunter region as well as Neoen’s 500 MW battery planned west of Sydney. Australia’s largest power producer, AGL, also remains on track to add at least 850 MW of new large-scale battery storage to its portfolio by 2024.

Genex Power’s application is awaiting development approval and is expected to be made public soon.

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