Developer Zero-E Australia and its parent company Grupo Cobra have received 5.3.4A Connection Approval from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) for the 145MWac Moranbah solar-plus-storage site in Queensland.
The approval, confirmed by grid connection engineering firm OSA Engineering, covers a 145MWac solar PV facility coupled with a 50MWac battery storage system, located near Coppabella in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.
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The plant uses an AC-coupled hybrid architecture with grid-forming inverter technology, placing it among a growing cohort of Australian solar and storage projects specified to provide active grid stability support rather than simply generating and exporting power.
Section 5.3.4A of the National Electricity Rules sets out the process that generators must follow before they can operate in the National Electricity Market (NEM).
Achieving this approval requires extensive power system modelling, including electromagnetic transient studies using power systems computer-aided design (PSCAD) and load flow analysis using power system simulator for engineering (PSS/E), along with performance validation and negotiations with AEMO and the relevant network service provider, in this case, Energy Queensland.
OSA Engineering said the process involved close collaboration between the project team, AEMO and Energy Queensland across all stages of the technical assessment.
The 5.3.4A approval is the connection milestone that confirms a project can connect to and operate securely within the NEM while maintaining system reliability.
It does not itself authorise construction to begin, but it removes the primary technical uncertainty that sits between development approval and a final investment decision and is typically one of the last formal steps before a project proceeds to procurement and construction contracts.
The project is being developed by Zero-E Australia, the Australian subsidiary of Spanish infrastructure group Grupo Cobra, which is itself part of the VINCI Group. The Moranbah project is Grupo Cobra’s first Australian clean energy development.
The company has partnered with the Barada Barna People, the Traditional Owners of the land, on a Cultural Heritage Management Agreement and a Shared Benefits Agreement as part of the project’s community commitments.
Up to 250 jobs are expected during construction, with a focus on local participation from the Moranbah region.
The Moranbah solar-plus-storage project was one of 19 projects awarded contracts under Australia’s Capacity Investment Scheme Tender 7 in May 2026, which delivered 7.8GW of renewable energy across the NEM, which exceeded the 5GW originally targeted.
Eight of the 19 successful projects in that tender were hybrid solar or wind developments paired with battery storage, with the cohort contributing over 2GW and 7.9GWh of storage capacity to the grid.
The Moranbah project was listed in the CIS Tender 7 results as a 171MW solar PV plant paired with 100MWh of battery storage, operated by Zero-E/Grupo Cobra.
