Plans lodged for Wurdong Heights Battery Energy Storage System

Central Queensland continues to cement itself as an energy powerhouse with another battery energy storage system proposed for the region.

A development application has been lodged with Gladstone Regional Council proposing for a new Battery Energy Storage System to be built at Wurdong Heights.

Central Queensland’s status as an energy powerhouse continues to grow with yet another energy project pegged for the region.

A development application was recently lodged with Gladstone Regional Council for a new Battery Energy Storage System to be built at Wurdong Heights.

According to the development application the proponent, BayWa, is seeking to establish the BESS on Hughes Rd in the Gladstone suburb.

The project would be located immediately adjacent to the Powerlink Queensland Wurdong substation about 12km south of the port city.

According to the document the BESS would have a capacity of up to 200 MV/800MWh.

The development would also include associated infrastructure including an access track, parking, storage, laydown areas and foundations.

The BESS is proposed to cover a total area of 2.84 hectares and would be connected to the adjacent collector substation via underground cables.

According to the planning report the project is located within the Central Queensland Renewable Energy Zone, which spans as far north as Moranbah, south to Bundaberg and west to Emerald.

The BESS would be able to contribute up to 800MWh of storage capacity to the National Electricity Market, with the potential to dispatch up to 200 MW of electricity for four hours when required before needing to recharge.

The Wurdong Heights BESS adds to a long list of renewable energy projects both proposed and approved for the Central Queensland region.

Plans were recently lodged with Gladstone Regional Council for a new solar farm to be built at Bororen.

According to the plans the project would also include a BESS on the same site.

Plans were also lodged with the Federal Government to determine if the Upper Calliope Solar Farm will need further approval from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

Dubbed “Australia’s largest solar farm”, the Upper Calliope Solar Farm will be able to generate up to 1300 MW, with the project area as a whole comprising of more than 8000 hectares.

In January mining giant Rio Tinto signed a power purchase agreement with European Energy Australia to buy all of the power generated from the development for 25 years.

Meanwhile construction on the Bouldercombe Battery Project was completed in November, with Genex Power announcing the completion means the “immediate commencement of operations”.

The announcement came more than a week after the company revealed preliminary investigations indicated a fire on September 26, which damaged two of the Tesla Megapack units, was caused by a fault in the AC side of the unit.