Maoneng’s 450MWh battery, South Australia’s biggest, approved without significant changes

Australian renewable energy developer Maoneng has obtained planning approval from the South Australian government for its Gould Creek battery in the northeast of Adelaide. Construction set to begin on the battery in late 2022, with the project expected to be fully commissioned by the end of 2023.

The 225MWp / 450MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) has secured the approval without any significant changes to its proposal, Maoneng said.

Once built, the Gould Creek battery will be the state’s largest, with more than double the storage capacity of Neoen’s Hornsdale Power Reserve, which can store up to 194MWh. Maoneng’s battery is to be located next to the Para transmission substation, just over 20km from the state capital’s CBD.

Maoneng started out in Australia’s residential solar segment, but it is understood the company will increasingly focus on battery storage projects over the next few years. Maoneng has said, however, that it is still open to and actively exploring pv opportunities in the country.

In July, Maoneng made public its plan to build a 240 MWp/480 MWh big battery in Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, with a proposed location also adjacent to an existing substation. The company is currently undertaking a competitive tender process to select its contractor for the project, and says it’s aiming to have the big battery completed by late 2022.

Australia’s pipeline of grid-scale battery storage projects has bulged in the past year, with the technology increasingly understood as the key to managing the country’s massive penetrations of rooftop solar and other variable and distributed energy resources.

“South Australia has high levels of renewable energy generation, which is a positive development but can create challenges balancing supply and demand due to the intermittency of renewables. Our proposed battery storage will help manage this, supporting local energy reliability and security while also promoting greater uptake of renewables as a whole,” Morris Zhou, Maoneng’s co-founder and CEO, said.

“We can now progress with more detailed work on our funding arrangements and supply chain, which will provide many opportunities for local businesses to get involved.”

South Australia’s Minister for Trade and Investment, Stephen Patterson, welcomed the development approval. “This is a significant $150 million investment by Maoneng Australia into South Australia’s sustainable future, and I’m delighted to see an Australian-owned company that is so committed to the development of projects that are critical for powering a sustainable world,” the minister said.