State-owned Energy Corporation of New South Wales (EnergyCo) has revealed that 7.15 GW of renewable energy and energy storage projects have been granted access rights to connect to Australia’s first renewable energy zone (REZ) in Central-West Orana.
In a statement released yesterday (8 May), EnergyCo said 10 renewable energy projects have been granted the green light to connect to the REZ. This will enable the sites to connect to the incoming transmission line running through the zone.
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The projects are expected to be delivered by 2031 and will have an average operational lifespan of 30 years. These sites will generate 15,000GWh of energy per year.
Access rights have been granted for a 2.2GW battery energy storage system (BESS). Wind sites have been granted 2,951MW for variable energy generation, while utility-scale solar PV has been awarded 2,500MW.
As seen in the image above, all successful BESS assets will be co-located with variable renewable energy generation sites, and no standalone BESS have been awarded access rights.
The successful BESS projects include the 600MW/1,200MWh Birriwa BESS being developed by Acen Australia, Lightsource bp’s 700MW Sandy Creek BESS, which will have a minimum 1,400MWh of energy storage, Pacific Partnerships’ 400MW/1,600MWh Cobbora BESS and Potentia Energy’s 500MW/1,000MWh Tallawang Solar Hybrid site.
Penny Sharpe, the New South Wales minister for Climate Change and Energy, said the access rights are a “major step forward” for the state’s energy transformation.
“These deals will secure billions of dollars of private investment in renewable energy and deliver enough electricity to power 2.7 million New South Wales homes annually. By unlocking new renewable energy capacity and enhancing battery energy storage, we are making our power grid more reliable and putting downward pressure on bills,” Sharpe added.
The Central-West Orana REZ will be built on roughly 20,000km2 near Dunedoo, Mudgee, and Dubbo, a rural area about 330km northwest of Sydney. It will potentially unlock an estimated AUS$20 billion (US$12.89 billion) in private investment in solar PV, wind, and energy storage.
To read the full article, please visit Energy-Storage.news.
