Chinese solar manufacturer JinkoSolar has submitted plans for a 600MW solar-plus-storage project in Queensland, Australia, to the federal government.
The Beebo Solar Farm and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) is located in the south of the state, around south-west of Inglewood. The solar PV power plant will have a generation capacity of 600MW and will be accompanied by a co-located 400MW/800MWh 2-hour duration BESS.
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JinkoSolar submitted the project plans to the federal government and is seeking approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
The EPBC queue, 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. Several solar-plus-storage projects have been submitted to the EPBC queue in recent months, including Edify Energy’s 250MW project in Victoria and a 600MW solar-plus-storage site being pursued by ACEN Australia.
According to the project plans on the government’s EPBC portal, the pre-construction phase will take four to five months, followed by a 15 to 18-month construction stage. Once completed, the solar PV power plant will operate for 40 years.
Once the project has reached its end of life, the site will either be fully decommissioned, with the land on which it sits to be restored to its previous function, or it will be repowered with updated solar PV modules and equipment.
JinkoSolar, a member of the Solar Module Super League (SMSL), has been expanding its global presence in the solar PV market and is set to go public on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in Germany.
This move captured the interest of many across the industry. According to the announcement, the total amount of funds raised by JinkoSolar’s Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) issuance will not exceed RMB4.5 billion (US$632 million) or its equivalent in foreign currency.
The funds will mainly be used to construct a 1GW annual nameplate capacity high-efficiency module assembly plant in the US and the 14GW vertically integrated production base project (Phase II) in Shanxi province, China. As stipulated, the issue price of GDR will not be less than 10% of the average closing price of A shares in the 20 trading days prior to the pricing reference date.
The successes of solar PV in the EPBC queue
Several projects have seen success in the EPBC queue in recent months. For instance, developer Lightsource bp was granted development approval for its proposed 450MW Goulburn River Solar Farm in New South Wales, subject to conditions.
The project, which secured approval from the New South Wales government in late August 2024, will cover a 793-hectare site around 28km southwest of Merriwa, 273km northwest of Sydney. It will cost around AU$880 million (US$596 million) to construct fully.
In September, Cambridge JMD Australia, a regional subsidiary of fund manager Cambridge RE Partners, secured consent from the Australian government for its 300MW Cambridge Solar Farm. The solar PV power plant is located approximately 80km south of Townsville, Queensland, and will connect to existing transmission infrastructure. Again, this was granted via the EPBC process.
