Jinko Power, the solar development unit of Chinese PV technology manufacturing giant JinkoSolar, has been given the go-ahead under the Australian government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act for its Garoo Solar Farm and battery energy storage project.
The Garoo project, being developed by Jinko Power in collaboration with Sydney-headquartered Bright Path Renewables, will include a 134 MW solar farm comprising about 234,000 solar panels, alongside a 360 MW / 1, 440 MWh battery energy storage system. The facility will connect to the National Electricity Market via an existing 330 kV overhead transmission line that crosses the project site.
The federal environment regulator has determined the project, to be built on cleared grazing land at Garoo, about 40 kilometres south of Tamworth, is “not a controlled action” under the EPBC Act.
“The 306-hectare project site has been mostly cleared for agriculture and the development will allow for continued grazing activities, maintaining the agricultural use of the land,” Australia Environment Minister Murray Watt said in a statement.
While the project still requires approval by the NSW government, the developers are hoping to commence construction in late 2026. This phase is expected to take about 18 months to complete, including commissioning of the project to achieve full grid export.
Once operational, the Garoo solar farm and battery will generate approximately 1,440 MWh of renewable energy each year.
The developers said in the scoping report the facility will provide essential input into the additional energy sources needed in Australia’s transition from coal-fired generation to renewable generation.
“Additionally, the proposed BESS would provide approximately 360 MW / 1,440 MWh storage capacity to regulate the supply of energy to the grid and increase the reliability of the NEM,” they said.
The Garoo project is among a suite solar and battery projects planned for the New England region with the presence of major transmission lines and existing electricity substations attracting considerable interest from developers.
Other projects being developed with a 60 km radius of the Garoo site include TotalEnergies’ 320 MW Middlebrook solar farm and 320 MW / 780 MWh battery energy storage system, and Venn Energy’s 300 MW Lambruk Solar Farm and 300 MW / 1,200 MWh battery project.
Standalone battery projects being progressed in the area in include Equis Australia’s 250 MW / 500 MWh Calala battery, Iberdola’s 50 MW / 1,000 MWh Kingswood battery project, and the 200 MW Tamworth battery being developed by Maoneng.
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