Two new big battery projects have been waved through by the federal environment overseer, but both took the EBPC several months to make a decision.
The 150 megawatt (MW), 600 megawatt-hour (MWh) Kincraig battery in South Australia took slightly more than five months from referral to decision.
But the even bigger 400 MW, 2,000 MWh Tumuruu battery, to be built next to a 400 MW solar farm, in Queensland shot through the referral process in just three months.
The developer on that project, Australia Solar Enterprises (ASE), is promising a light-touch build that minimises the environmental footprint of the whole, however.
It will use a German mounting system with a “self-stabilising” grid of steel rods and plates that fixes solar panels into a flat wave-like pattern, designed for east-west facing generation and sitting around one metre above the ground.
Piles that are screwed or driven into the earth are becoming du jour for solar installations, as they’re cheaper, don’t need concrete footings, and can be installed easily by robots.
The Tumuruu project is near the Queensland town of Taromeo in the Darling Downs, and right on top of two major transmission lines heading to Brisbane.
Luckily for ASE, the project received development approval in 2024, and plans to start construction this year.
While the Queensland government has shown it’s happy to call in already-approved projects for further scrutiny, it’s only officially dumped one to date – the Moonlight Range wind project.
The project’s near-ish neighbours, around 18 km to the west, include Meandu coal mine, Tarong and Tarong North coal power stations. In February, federal environment minister Murray Watt waved through an extension to Stanwell’s Meandu King 2 East open cut coal mine, much to the dismay of the Queensland Conservation Council.
The Kincraig battery however, took a bit longer to move through the EPBC referral process.
It landed in the EPBC referral queue in November and didn’t receive a decision until the end of April.
TagEnergy Australia is building this standalone battery, next to ElectraNet’s Kincraig substation.
It’s still at the earlier stages of a development application with the State Commission Assessment Panel, its size dictating that it has to go through that route rather than through the council.
The Naracoorte Lucindale council has approved four other very small, 5 MW or less batteries for the paddocks near the Tagenergy proposal and a Flow Power solar project of a similar size.
But it is worried about the 11 hectare footprint of the Kincraig battery taking “prime agricultural land” out of circulation, according to a report by ABC late last year.
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Rachel Williamson
Rachel Williamson is a science and business journalist, who focuses on climate change-related health and environmental issues.
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