British company Pacific Green unveils plans for its first grid-scale battery in Australia

Located next to the Mount Gambier substation, a UK company has unveiled plans to build South Australia’s largest grid-scale battery.

Artist’s impression of the Limestone Coast Energy Park. Picture: Supplied by Pacific Green

British battery storage developer Pacific Green has unveiled plans for its first grid-scale battery in Australia as it looks to roll out a ‘multi-gigawatt’ pipeline of storage facilities across the country.

After securing exclusive rights to a site in South Australia’s southeast, Pacific Green’s Limestone Coast Energy Park would become the state’s largest grid-scale battery, with 550MW/1.5GWh of storage capacity.

That equates to a capacity to store almost 60 per cent of South Australia’s residential solar output for up to a four-hour period.

Located adjacent to the South East Substation near Mount Gambier, and feeding into the Heywood Interconnector between South Australia and Victoria, the facility would also charge and discharge excess renewable energy generated from nearby wind and solar farms to and from Victoria.

Pacific Green estimates that the project will enable an average of 80,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions to be avoided each year by discharging renewable power to the grid during evening peak times and overnight.

Pacific Green, which runs its Australian office out of Melbourne, has ambitions to become one of the largest battery park developers in the Southern Hemisphere.

The company’s managing director for Australia, Joel Alexander, said its first project in South Australia would strengthen grid stability in the region and help to bring down wholesale energy costs.

“We are excited to grow our portfolio into South Australia, which already has the highest adoption of renewable generation of all states in Australia,” he said.

“Our Limestone Coast Battery Energy Park can act as a load during the day, increasing the viability of even more solar and wind generation, whilst shifting energy to the times it is most valuable in the evening peak.

“This momentum allows us to accelerate progress towards South Australia achieving 100 per cent net renewables by 2030.”

Pacific Green is developing a pipeline of battery projects in the UK, and recently expanded into continental Europe with the acquisition of five battery storage developments in Italy.

In Australia, the company has submitted its Limestone Coast Energy Park for development approval with the South Australian government, and expects to begin construction next year.

An additional 1GW/2.5GWh of battery storage developments has been earmarked across the border in Portland, Victoria, after the company recently secured several sites in the region.

Construction on that project is also expected to begin next year, and become operational in 2026.

Last month Equis Australia secured environmental approvals for its proposed 1.2GW/2.4GWh Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub, which would become Australia’s largest grid-scale battery.

It comes as the Albanese government expands federal support for new clean power generation and storage capacity amid a slowing of private investment.

Announced by Energy Minister Chris Bowen on Thursday, the Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) will be expanded to underwrite 9GW of storage and 23GW of variable renewable generation projects.

The scheme involves the government underwriting new investments through “contract for differences” that share the risks between investors and taxpayers.

The announcement came a day after the federal government confirmed successful bids for six battery storage projects in NSW following a pilot CIS auction, amounting to more than 1GW of firming capacity and $1.8bn in new energy infrastructure.