The Great Western Battery involves the installation of a 330-megawatt / 3.5-gigawatt hour battery at Wallerawang in NSW. The project is being developed by Neoen and will use existing network infrastructure near the decommissioned Wallerawang Power Station to connect to the national grid.
The project includes the construction of battery enclosures, inverters, transformers, a transmission line connection to the existing Wallerawang sub-station and is separate to the Wallerawang Battery which is located in the same area.
The Battery will aim to provide Fast Frequency Response services to the National Electricity Market and act as a reserve to augment power supplies in the Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone.
PROJECT HISTORY
| Dec 2020 | NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment SEARs requested. |
| Feb 2021 | The NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment issued the Secretary's Environmental Assessment Requirements for the preparation of an Environmental Impact Assessment of the project. |
| Mar 2022 | The project's Environmental Impact Statement was placed on public exhibition, closing on 4 April. |
| Nov 2022 | Neoen Australia published their response to submissions from public exhibition. |
| Nov 2023 | The project's development application was granted approval by the NSW Government. |
| Feb 2026 | ASL awarded Long-Term Energy Service Agreements to the project, along with five other long-duration storage projects under tender round six of the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap. The six projects have a combined capacity of 1.17 gigawatts and 12 gigawatt hours. The announcement also confirmed the project's expected capacity was revised from 500 MW / 1,000 MWh to 330 MW / 3,500 MWh. |
Estimated Total Cost
(2021)
Sector
Energy
Procurement approach
Traditional Procurement |
Location
New South Wales |
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