Large-Scale Battery Project For Newcastle’s North-West

Edify Energy has announced a development application has been lodged with Newcastle City Council for a large battery energy storage system (BESS) project in the north-western suburb of Mayfield West.

The 28 MW / 56 MWh project is being developed by Precinct Capital and Edify for a 6,000sqm site in Steel River Estate. The battery system itself will occupy around 2,500sqm of the site – the equivalent of around 10 tennis courts.  Precinct Capital is a land holder in the Estate, which covers 104 hectares of  industrial land just 10 minutes from Newcastle’s Central Business District.

Edify Energy says the BESS will charge from and discharge directly to the grid and participate in various Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) regulated markets; providing energy, frequency control ancillary services (FCAS) and other ancillary services.

As well as supporting the electricity network, the battery will also facilitate the further integration of residential rooftop solar power and utility scale renewable energy developments across the Hunter Region.

“The project will act like a shock absorber within the electrical network, absorbing electricity from the grid when generation exceeds demand and export electricity to the grid at times of lower generation including during intermittent solar and wind resource,” said Edify Chief Executive John Cole.

Positive Signal From Council

Assuming the Steel River Estate energy storage project gets the thumbs up from Newcastle City Council, construction and commissioning should take six to eight months; providing between 20 and 30 direct jobs during the construction phase.

Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes seems pretty keen for the project to proceed, stating:

“This a world class large-scale battery storage investment in the Newcastle area, and a first-of-its-kind project for the region, creating a blueprint for additional investments and local innovation.”

Council has been very supportive of renewables, including in terms of its own operations. In 2019 Council committed to sourcing 100 per cent renewables for the City’s operational electricity requirements and achieved this goal with a significant helping hand from Council’s five-megawatt solar farm that commenced operations in December last year.

The BESS project also strongly aligns with Council’s plans. The City’s 2025 Climate Action Plan indicates more solar power on the cards, as is investigating the potential for installing megawatt-scale battery storage to firm renewable supply and build resilience across City of Newcastle operations.

This will be Edify’s second large-scale energy storage project, the first being the 25MW / 50MWh Gannawarra Energy Storage System in Victoria. The company also has a solid track record for large-scale PV in Australia, including Darlington Point, Whitsunday, Hamilton, Gannawarra, Daydream and Hayman solar farms.

Among other projects in its pipeline, Edify is developing a utility-scale solar power and battery project to supply electricity to the Lansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct in Queensland, which is intended to be Northern Australia’s first environmentally sustainable advanced manufacturing, processing and technology hub. Edify’s 200MW Majors Creek Solar Farm will feature a 50MW battery storage facility and the project’s solar capacity could eventually be doubled.

Edify may also establish a presence within the Precinct, with plans to build a renewable hydrogen electrolyser pilot plant.