Government-owned gentailer Synergy has secured all state approvals for its proposed 2 GW Tathra solar, wind and battery energy storage project after getting a green light from Western Australia’s environmental regulator.
The state’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has signed off on the $4.5 billion project, saying that the likely environmental effects of the proposal are “not so significant” as to warrant formal assessment.
The EPA decision follows approval of all three project components by the Development Assessment Panel (DAP) in December.
The Tathra renewable energy project, to be built across an almost 16,000-hectare site near the town of Eneabba about 300 kilometres north of state capital Perth, is to comprise up to 500 MW of solar, 1,000 MW of wind generation and 500 MW of battery energy storage. It is planned to connect into the northern section of the state’s main grid, South West Interconnected System (SWIS), via the existing 330 kV transmission line that intersects the project site.
The project is part of the state government’s Energy Transformation Strategy, designed to support the transition to renewables and the phase out of coal by the end of the decade.
The Western Australian government has committed to retire its state-owned coal-fired power stations by 2030 and replace them with reliable renewable electricity generation and storage.
The Tathra project will form part of Synergy’s growing renewable energy fleet with the utility saying it will contribute significantly to the state’s energy future with the combination of solar, wind, and batteries allowing it to maximise the site and the transmission line’s existing capacity.
Synergy said by co-locating solar panels, wind turbines, and a battery energy storage system on the same site, the project can balance energy output by smoothing fluctuations in generation and ensure a more stable flow of electricity to the grid.
It added that the battery will help prevent grid overload by absorbing excess energy that might otherwise be curtailed, “helping to maintain grid stability and avoid unnecessary waste.”
“This integrated approach not only supports Western Australia’s renewable energy goals but also delivers a more flexible, efficient, and reliable electricity supply for the future,” it said.
The Tathra project is among a suite of renewable energy generation and storage sites Synergy is developing across the SWIS, including a 500 MW / 2,000 MWh battery energy storage system at Collie in the state’s southwest that is the currently working through the commissioning phase, adding to the two battery systems it has built nearby at Kwinana that total 325 MW of power capacity with 1,100 MWh of storage capacity.
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