Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor GRS, a part of Gransolar Group, has been contracted by Recurrent Energy, the renewable energy developer arm of solar manufacturer Canadian Solar, to build a 171MW solar-plus-storage site in Victoria, Australia.
The Carwarp Energy Park, which will feature a 120MW battery energy storage system (BESS) as part of the project’s second stage, is expected to reach commercial operation in 2026. The duration of the BESS has not been revealed.
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Previous coverage by PV Tech revealed that the PV plant would have 243,000 Canadian Solar PV modules installed. The project reached financial close in December 2024.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, Westpac Banking Corporation, and Société Générale, Sydney Branch were confirmed to be providing financing for the solar PV project.
Gransolar’s managing director, Jose Miguel Plaza Pardo, took to LinkedIn to reveal that the project will be GRS’ 14th in Australia.
“I want to express my heartfelt gratitude and recognition to the entire GRS team for their enormous effort and dedication. Together with our partners, we will ensure the successful completion of this project. Your hard work and commitment have made this achievement possible.”
Recurrent’s energy park will be constructed in the northwestern part of Victoria near the Carwarp, a small agricultural town around 504km from the state capital, Melbourne. It will connect to the National Electricity Market (NEM) and provide around 405GWh of green energy annually.
A long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) has also been signed for the project. Although the company’s name was not disclosed, Recurrent specified it was with a multinational corporate off-taker.
GRS secures 2.1GWdc pipelines of projects in Australia
As previously noted, the Carwarp Energy Park becomes the 14th project GRS has been contracted to build in Australia. In total, this amounts to around 2.1GWdc of capacity.
Several large-scale solar PV projects are included in this portfolio. Perhaps two of the most noteworthy are the Wellington North and Wungha projects being pursued by Lightsource BP, whose owner, oil and gas giant BP, is looking to sell a stake as it rolls back on renewables.
The projects, which had been acquired by Beijing Energy International Australia, the local subsidiary of Chinese clean energy firm Beijing Energy, in 2023, amount to around 1GW of generation capacity. Wellington North was the fifth-best-performing solar PV asset in terms of AC capacity factor in February 2025.
GRS also built Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) Australia’s 353MW Walla Walla solar PV power plant in New South Wales, which achieved energisation in November 2024.
FRV also employed the EPC company to build a 122MW solar PV project in Badajoz, Spain, called Carmonita Norte. At the time of initial reporting in 2023, the project was GRS’ fourth project undertaken in Spain.
