ACEN Australia plans agrisolar site with 2.8 GWh battery

The Australian division of Phillipines-headquartered renewable energy developer Acen has submitted plans for an up to 320 MW solar and 1.4 GW (AC)/2.8 GWh BESS 24 km southeast of Armidale, in New South Wales, for permitting under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
The Deeargee solar farm would be built across 1,002 hectares, buffered by an additional 542 hectares, and would generate enough electricity to power 160,000 homes annually, via around 750,000 solar modules.
The site, 5 km south of Acen’s 521 MW first stage of the New England Solar plant, would also be part of the New England REZ and would be connected to REZ infrastructure via a new transmission line or an existing 330 kV line.

Planned on grazing and cropping land, Acen intends to continue sheep grazing on portions of the array areas.
The company said a protocol will be developed to ensure biosecurity would be maintained and would account for the irregular proposed boundary of the project, which would take into account sensitive environmental factors.
Acen said the project lifespan would be approximately 30 years but beyond 2054 the infrastructure would be decommissioned and the site returned to its pre‑existing land use with dismantled and decommissioned infrastructure and equipment recycled, where possible. The array’s life could be extended to 50 years, Acen said, if panels are upgraded during its initial operation timeframe.
From pv magazine Australia.