Recurrent Energy, the renewable energy developer arm of solar manufacturer Canadian Solar, says it has received connection approval from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) for its hybrid Sundown Energy Park project planned for northern New South Wales.
“Recurrent Energy Australia has successfully secured Grid Connection Approval for Sundown Energy Park under clause 5.3.4 of the National Electricity Rules, marking a key milestone in one of the country’s most significant hybrid renewable projects,” the company said in an announcement on LinkedIn.
“This achievement reflects the strong collaboration with AEMO, Transgrid and Lumea, and highlights Recurrent Energy’s continued commitment to delivering innovative, large-scale renewable solutions that strengthen energy systems and accelerate decarbonisation.”
Being developed across a 525-hectare footprint about 30 kilometres east of Inverell, within the New England Renewable Energy Zone (REZ), the Sundown project integrates a 360 MW solar generation facility with a 150 MW, four-hour capacity battery energy storage system. The project will connect to the National Electricity Market (NEM) via the existing Transgrid 330 kV transmission line that traverses the site.
Recurrent said once operational, the facility will be capable of generating clean energy to meet the average annual electricity needs of about 176,000 households, while enhancing grid stability by supporting peak demand periods through its integrated storage solution.
“The key objective of the project is to deliver up to 360 MW of much-needed renewable energy into NSW,” the company said on planning documents. “The Sundown Solar Farm project will also contribute to the overall storage capacity and reliability of the NEM.”
The project, that has been designed to allow for grazing activities to continue on the land following construction, has been awarded state significant development status by the NSW government but it is yet to secure planning approval from the state’s Independent Planning Commission and is still to undergo final assessment by the federal government.
The Sundown project is part of Recurrent’s Australian portfolio that includes the Mannum Energy Park in South Australia, and the Carwarp Energy Park, a 171 MW solar farm and 150 MWh battery facility in northern Victoria. The Carwarp project is currently under construction and is expected to reach commercial operation later this year.
Recurrent said it has completed approximately 12 GW of solar and 6.2 GWh of battery storage projects across six continents and has a pipeline of about 23 GW in solar and 75 GWh in battery storage in development.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.