NSW Govt Gives Go-ahead to 400 MW Solar-Battery Plant in Australia

UPC/AC Renewables Australia has announced that the New South Wales government has granted its approval to the development plans for the 400-MW Stubbo Solar Farm and Battery project in the Orana region of the Australian state.

UPC\AC Renewables is a joint venture of UPC Renewables Australia Pty Ltd and AC Energy, part of the Ayala Corp in the Philippines. The Stubbo project will incorporate a 200-MWh battery storage system and will cover 1,250 hectares of cleared grazing land within the Central West-Orana Renewable Energy Zone. It will connect to the National Electricity Market (NEM) via TransGrid’s 330 kV Wellington to Wollar TransGrid transmission line, which transects the site.

It will include about 800,000 single-axis tracking solar modules and a battery energy storage system, which means the project will be able to dispatch energy when it is most needed during peak hours, while also providing important grid stability services.

Once completed, the Stubbo Solar Farm is expected to annually generate more than 1 million MWh of solar energy, which would be enough to supply electricity to more than 150,000 homes.

Killian Wentrup, the head of solar development at UPC\AC Renewables Australia, said the project will now push ahead with its grid-connection application and the appointment of a main EPC contractor.

“We hope to begin construction by early to mid-2022, subject to finalisation of our final contracts and securing finance,” Wentrup said. “We want to thank the local community for its ongoing feedback, which helped us make changes to the project proposal and to reduce some of the potential impacts. We look forward to continuing that positive relationship over many years to come.”

The NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment backed the project concluding that it would help diversify the local economy, create jobs and support the state’s energy transition to renewables, the official statement said.

In the next phase, UPC\AC Renewables will file for a grid connection application and look to appoint a main EPC contractor.