Australian renewable energy developer Edify Energy has submitted plans for a 100MW solar-plus-storage project in New South Wales to the Australian government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
The Burroway Solar Farm will have a generation capacity of 100MW and will feature a 100MW/400MWh 4-hour duration battery energy storage system (BESS). It will be located 27km west of Dubbo within the Central West and Orana region, the location of one of the state’s five Renewable Energy Zones (REZ).
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According to the application, the solar PV power plant will feature around 200,000 PV modules covering 391 hectares. It will generate up to 214MWh of green energy per annum and have an operational lifespan of 50 years.
Construction on the project is expected to take approximately 18 months and commence in the 2026/27 financial year. The peak construction period will be over six to nine months to allow for the gradual development and commissioning of the facility. Construction will be undertaken in four stages.
The EPBC Act, administrated by the Federal government, aims to protect nationally threatened species and ecological communities under the Act. This must be accepted before being granted permission to develop a project.
Edify has submitted several solar PV and BESS projects to the EPBC Act in recent months. One of the most notable is the Muskerry solar PV power plant, a 250MW solar-plus-storage project in Victoria. The site includes plans for a 200MW/800MWh co-located BESS.
In December last year, the company confirmed it was preparing to start constructing a 300MW solar-plus-storage twin project in North Queensland following success in a Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) tender. The Ganymirra and Majors Creek Solar Power Stations will have 150MW solar PV generation capacity and a co-located 600MWh BESS.
Edify’s use of 4-hour duration BESS assets
A common trend with many of Edify Energy’s projects is the co-location of 4-hour duration BESS assets. The National Electricity Market (NEM) tends to favour shorter-duration systems like 2-4 hours, while longer-duration systems, often over the 4-hour threshold, must be supported by long-term contract structures such as Long-Term Energy Service Agreements (LTESAs) signed in New South Wales last month.
“Australia’s NEM favours shorter duration [assets], such as 2- to 4-hour duration, but we’re seeing longer durations being supported via schemes like the LTESA contracts,” Niall Brady, head of solar and battery storage at the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) said during a panel discussion at the Energy Storage Summit Australia 2025 earlier this week.
Longer-duration systems could also see increased revenue with research conducted by Wood Mackenzie last year having found that 4-hour battery systems would be more profitable than the typical 1.6-hour duration of current projects.
