Acen Australia, part of Philippines-based Ayala Group, has lodged documents with the federal government’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water seeking the tick of approval for the Cooma Solar and Battery project planned for southern New South Wales (NSW).
The proposed Cooma solar farm and battery project, being developed on a 290-hectare site about 110 kilometres south of Canberra, would comprise a 100 MW solar array backed by a 180 MW battery energy storage system.
The solar plant will be equipped with 200,000 PV modules mounted on single-axis trackers and is expected to generate sufficient electricity to power about 45,000 homes.
The developer says the battery, that is expected to offer between two to four hours of discharge capacity, will support the solar farm, help alleviate congestion in the southern NSW and Australian Capital Territory transmission lines, and provide capacity for more renewable generation in the region.
The project is intended to be connected to the national grid via NSW network operator TransGrid’s existing 132 kV Williamsdale to Cooma transmission line located near the project site.
Acen is now seeking approval for the project through Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, which aims to protect nationally threatened species and ecological communities.
According to the impact summary for EPBC referral application, the project area is currently and has historically been used for grazing and cropping and it is expected that grazing activities will continue during the operation of the solar project.
A scoping report for the project was submitted to the NSW department of Planning last year. The developer then said it aims to begin construction on the project in 2027 and have it operating by late 2028.
Acen’s Australian portfolio already exceeds more than 1 GW capacity of large-scale renewable energy generation under construction and in operation. It also has about 8 GW of solar, wind, battery, and pumped hydro projects in the development pipeline.
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