X-Elio sets solar aside in favour of standalone battery
X-Elio has submitted its plans for a 300 MW / 1,200 MWh standalone battery project in the Southern Tablelands region of New South Wales (NSW) for review under the federal government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act queue. The process will consider the proposed Willavale battery energy storage project’s potential effects on nationally threatened species and ecological communities.
The Willavale battery is planned for a 190-hectare site located about 22 kilometres southwest of Goulburn. The project area is currently used for agricultural grazing and cropping.
X-Elio, owned by Canadian asset manager Brookfield, said the site was originally intended to include both a battery energy storage system (BESS) and a 72 MW solar farm but after an “extensive technical review” and consideration of insights gained from community and stakeholder feedback, the solar farm has been removed from the plans.
“Project design has evolved in response to constraints to opportunities identified in technical assessments,” the company said in referral documents, adding that initial biodiversity surveys “resulted in solar becoming non-viable, and as such the project design was amended to be a standalone BESS development.”
The Willavale project is one of two big batteries X-Elio has planned for the Goluburn region. It is also seeking EPBC approval for the 300 MW / 1,200 MWh Canyonleigh battery energy storage project planned for a site near Marulan, about 25 km northeast of Goulburn.
X-Elio said both batteries will augment the security and reliability of the electricity system in the National Electricity Market (NEM).
“Batteries are gaining significance within the electricity market as a means to compensate for the closure of coal-fired power stations,” the developer says in project documents. “They are assuming a more crucial role by offering reliable capacity to bolster intermittent renewable energy generation, thus enhancing the resilience of the grid.”
The Willavale and Canyonleigh projects are part of X-Elio’s growing Australian portfolio that predominantly focuses on solar and grid-scale battery storage.
In January it entered plans for a 720 MW solar farm and 720 MW / 2,880 MWh battery project near Gladstone in Queensland to the EPBC process, where it was earlier granted approval to build its 350 MW Sixteen Mile Solar Farm with a co-located 120 MW / 240 MWh battery.
It is also seeking approval for the 90 MW Forest Glen Solar Farm in NSW and is planning to add a 148 MW, two-hour battery to its operational 200 MW Blue Grass Solar Farm in Queensland.
It also has several other projects in development, including the 264 MW Pugoon solar farm and 110 MW / 440 MWh battery, and the Maxwell Downs project that is to include a 300 MW solar farm alongside a 300 MW four-hour capacity battery. Both these projects are proposed for regional NSW.
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