South Australia-based solar PV developer Green Gold Energy has received consent from the South Australian government for a 200MW solar-plus-storage site.
Australian Plains Solar project will be located over 325 hectares of land in the Australian Plains region, a rural locality in the Mid North region of South Australia, situated 127km northeast of Adelaide.
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It will connect to the National Electricity Market (NEM) via the Robertstown Substation, where a future interconnector connecting South Australia to New South Wales is set to be constructed.
Transmission operators ElectraNet and Transgrid are developing the 900km EnergyConnect interconnector, which will enhance the capacity and flow of renewable energy between the two states.
The project will feature a 200MW/400MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) with a duration of two hours. Construction of the site will take place later this year and last for 18 months.
“We are delighted to announce that the Australian Plains Solar & Battery Energy Storage System project has officially received development approval,” Green Gold Energy wrote in a LinkedIn post.
“With its connection to the Robertstown Substation and the future interconnector linking South Australia to New South Wales, the project will help power households locally and beyond.”
Green Gold Energy is also developing a 108MW solar-plus-storage project in the Stuart region of South Australia, featuring a 91.7MWh BESS. A substation will be constructed adjacent to the existing high-voltage transmission line as part of the solar PV plant to minimise the need for additional overhead lines to connect to the grid. The project is also designed to ensure agricultural practices can continue.
Solar PV developments in South Australia
In other recent news, Singaporean independent power producer (IPP) Vena Energy has added a 41.5MW BESS to an 87MW solar PV power plant in South Australia.
The addition of the BESS marks the successful commissioning of the Tailem Bend 2 Hybrid Project. The solar-plus-storage site is situated across 207 hectares in Tailen Bend, around 90km southeast of the state capital, Adelaide.
Elsewhere, ZEN Energy and Taiwan’s HD Renewable Energy (HDRE) furthered their partnership at the end of 2024, planning to establish an Australian joint venture focused on solar PV and energy storage.
As part of this agreement, the joint venture secured its first renewable energy site, the 210MW Solar River solar-plus-storage site in South Australia. The plant is being developed near Robertstown, around 125km north of Adelaide’s state capital. It will generate green electricity from approximately 400,000 solar PV modules and require around AU$540 million (US$337 million) to fully construct.
The Solar River project was successful in the first funding round of the expanded Capacity Investment Scheme in September, and ZEN Energy hopes construction on the site will begin in 2026.
