Build wraps up on NEM’s first hybrid 98 MW solar and 40 MWh BESS

Joint venture (JV)-owned by Italian utilities major Enel Group and Japanese oil and gas giant Inpex, Potentia Energy with its construction partners have completed the $190 million (USD 136.4 million) Quorn Park solar hybrid in New South Wales (NSW).

Located 10 kilometres northwest of Parkes in central western NSW, the hybrid 98 MW solar and 20 MW / 40 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) Quorn Park hybrid, was the first hybrid project in the National Electricity Market (NEM) to receive approval for a single hybrid generator performance standard (GPS).

Promising an annual capacity of approximately 200,000 MWh, the 160,000-panel solar farm and 16-unit BESS are connected to operate together as an integrated hybrid power plant.

Potentia Energy Chief Executive Officer Werther Esposito said Quorn Park is an example of where the energy system is heading.

“As more renewables enter the grid, the challenge isn’t simply how much clean energy we can generate but how flexibly we can use it,” Esposito said.

Esposito added that combining solar generation and battery storage as a genuinely integrated facility, Quorn Park creates greater flexibility to generate, store and dispatch renewable energy according to the needs of the grid.

Potentia Energy Chief Operations Officer Gabriele Mallarini said delivering an integrated hybrid facility required close coordination across every aspect of design, construction, commissioning and grid connection.

“Bringing solar and battery storage together as one plant adds a level of technical and operational complexity that goes well beyond simply building the two assets next to each other,” Mallarini said.

“What matters now is how these technologies perform together in the real world. Quorn Park gives us an opportunity to demonstrate the value that truly integrated renewable generation and storage can provide to the electricity system.”

Quorn Park was delivered with Beon Energy Solutions, SMA Australia, LONGi, BYD, Nextracker and Proa Energy Intelligence.