An application has been lodged for a battery energy storage facility to be constructed at a site around 13 kilometres north of the Queensland city of Toowoomba.
The project is part of an Energy Queensland trial involving the installation of 40MWh of battery storage. The trial, announced by the Palaszczuk Government in March this year, will better manage solar electricity resources and alleviate strain on the grid. This will also enable cheaper power generated during the day to be supplied to customers during the evening when wholesale electricity prices are generally more expensive – and a times significantly so.
Under the trial, batteries are to be installed in areas where there is high penetration of rooftop solar power systems. Sites identified as priority locations for the energy storage rollout include Ergon substation sites situated in Townsville, Yeppoon, Bundaberg, Hervey Bay and Meringandan – and it’s the latter this application applies to.
Named the Kleinton Battery Energy Storage System (Kleinton BESS), the proposed 4MW/8MWh installation will be situated at 520 Meringandan Road, Meringandan (noted on some documentation as Kleinton). The facility, which is to occupy an approximately 440m2 portion of the southeast corner of the site, will soak up electricity during periods of low demand and discharge it back into the grid when demand is high.
Solar Power In Meringandan
There’s certainly a lot of solar panels in Meringdan and the surrounding area, with more than 5,862 small-scale PV systems (<100kW capacity) installed to date in the 4532 postcode area – so there should be plenty of surplus cheap and clean solar energy for the battery to soak up just from local generation.
According to documents lodged with Toowoomba Regional Council last week (application ID: MCUI/2021/3170), Energy Queensland anticipates Kleinton BESS will be owned and operated by a third party, with an appropriate lease or similar contractual arrangement for the Energy Queensland-owned premises.
Energy Queensland already has a “template” community energy storage installation to work with – a 4MW/8MWh Tesla battery system installed on the northern outskirts of Townsville in Bohle Plains that has been operating since early 2020.
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for that project though, with a fire occurring at the facility in April last year. But it appeared to be a minor incident, described as a “small fire contained to a piece of equipment”.
On the issue of fire generally, the Kleinton BESS location has been previously partially cleared and the facility will be located approximately 50 metres from potentially hazardous vegetation to the north. In the image above and on satellite imagery and other photos, some trees on the adjoining block look pretty close, but there doesn’t appear to be much in the way low vegetation and fuel on the ground.
Other similar battery facility development proposals recently submitted in Queensland include the Black River BESS project lodged with Townsville City Council in May and the Tanby BESS (near Yeppoon) lodged with Livingstone Shire Council this month.
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Interesting development. It seems to be grid support although the article says it will be leased to a third party presumably to trade. I wonder what happened to the announced proposal for Torrington west of Toowoomba. Is Meringandan a change of plans for Energy Queensland? Certainly not a community battery project.