South Australia’s 1.5 GWh battery storage park gets tick of approval
British-owned energy company Pacific Green has achieved planning consent from the South Australian government for its first two grid-scale battery energy parks on the Limestone Coast region of South Australia.
Located 400 kilometres southeast of Adelaide, the Limestone Coast Energy Park (LCEP) assets will consist of a 500 MW / 1.5 GWh battery energy storage system (BESS) developed and constructed in two phases over the next 36 months, with the first phase expected to be operational in the second half of 2026.
Designed to store nearly 60% of South Australia’s residential solar output for up to a four-hour period, the site is adjacent to the 275 kVA South East Substation near Mount Gambier, and will link to the Heywood Interconnector between the South Australian and Victorian grids.
The LCEP marks the first set of assets of an 8 GWh development pipeline of battery energy parks Pacific Green is rolling out throughout Australia.
South Australian Minister for Energy and Mining Tom Koutsantonis said Pacific Green’s investment in energy storage was encouraging.
“An increase in storage will provide greater capacity at peak times, extending the availability of electricity generated by cheap renewables. It’s also particularly pleasing that Pacific Green has chosen the South East of South Australia for its project – greater diversity of storage locations will strengthen our security of supply and reliability,” Koutsantonis said.
As part of the approval process and to minimise local impacts, Pacific Green engaged with independent specialists to assess a wide range of environmental, technical and heritage aspects as well as undertaking targeted stakeholder and community consultation.
Pacific Green Australia Managing Director and CEO Joel Alexander said the approval is a major milestone for the LCEP assets and was pleased the government recognised the rigorous assessment and community consultation work the company has undertaken.
“We look forward to re-engaging with the local community to maximise the tangible economic benefits of the Limestone Coast Energy Parks and to ensure funding and local contracting opportunities are open to all relevant groups. This is a positive and exciting start to an exceptional pipeline of Australian projects to come.”
Pacific Green Chairman and Group CEO Scott Poulter said Australia is witnessing one of the world’s fastest growth renewable energy markets.
“It is critical that battery energy storage grows at the same pace to support the grid network’s expansion of renewable generation,” Poulter said.
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