Australian renewable energy investor Lighthouse Infrastructure is seeking to develop a 60 MW / 240 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) adjacent to its existing solar farm near the town of Emerald in central Queensland.
Melbourne-headquartered Lighthouse has lodged a development application with the Central Highlands Regional Council for a battery to be built at the site of and connected to its 72 MW solar plant which commenced operations in 2019.
Lighthouse said co-location of the battery with the existing solar farm, located on 160 hectares of farmland to the west of Emerald, will supplement the generation of renewable energy within the region, helping to balance energy supply and demand.
In planning documents, Lighthouse said the battery system will be equipped with grid-forming inverters allowing it to provide essential system stability services that improve security and strength of the local electricity network.
“Co-location of the BESS with the existing solar farm on the project site will supplement the generation of renewable energy within the region … [and] contribute to improved system strength of the local electricity network,” the company said.
Lighthouse also signalled that the battery will support the delivery of the Queensland’s renewable energy targets that include 50% renewable generation by 2030, 70% by 2032 and 80% by 2035 as the state transitions away from fossil fuels.
The government has said a key part of this transformation is the provision of energy storage with modelling indicating a requirement for at least 6 GW of long-duration energy storage complemented by up to 3 GW of grid-scale energy storage – anticipated to be largely comprised of battery storage facilities.
“The BESS project will contribute up to 240 MWh storage capacity to the National Electricity Market (NEM), with the potential to dispatch up to 60 MW of electricity for up to four hours when required before needing to recharge,” Lighthouse said.
Lighthouse owns two Queensland solar generation sites – the Emerald Solar Farm and the 100 MW Clare Solar Farm in the state’s north.
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How can they say they are going away from non renewable resources when now we have to open more mines, and distrib more farm land to get there lithium out of the ground and still need the coal to make the steel, the panels ect. Coal is used in all the manufacturing processes of they great ideas. There a bunch of hypocrits that are just money hungry and wanna take more of our money.