Approval has been granted for a major battery at Mingbool, near Mount Gambier.
Pacific Green, a global battery energy storage company, has achieved planning consent from the State Government for its first two grid-scale battery energy parks in the South East.
The Limestone Coast Energy Park assets will consist of a 0.5GW / 1.5 GWh battery energy storage system developed and constructed in two phases over the next 36 months.
The region’s only other battery storage system was built by Tesla near Tantanoola in 2019 at a cost of $38m.
It stores power generated by 112 of the turbines along the Woakwine Range and has a capacity of 25 MW.
As part of the Mingbool battery approval process and to minimise local impacts, Pacific Green engaged with numerous independent specialists to assess a wide range of environmental, technical and heritage aspects as well as undertaking targeted stakeholder and community consultation.
Construction of the Limestone Coast energy parks will commence towards the end of this year, with the first phase expected to be operational in the second half of 2026.
Pacific Green is committed to working with local suppliers and with a local workforce throughout the Mingbool battery construction phase, wherever possible.
The company has launched a supplier portal and will host a local supplier networking morning in the coming weeks.
The Limestone Coast Energy Parks mark the first set of assets of an 8.5GWh development pipeline of battery energy parks Pacific Green is rolling out throughout Australia.
Leveraging its significant experience building out battery energy parks in the UK and Europe, the company is aiming to be one of Australia’s leading developers, and to help accelerate the country’s transition to renewables by building a multi-gigawatt platform nationwide.
Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said it was encouraging to see more private sector investment in energy storage.
“An increase in storage will provide greater capacity at peak times, extending the availability of electricity generated by cheap renewables,” Minister Koutsantonis said.
“It’s also particularly pleasing that Pacific Green has chosen the South East for its project – greater diversity of storage locations will strengthen our security of supply and reliability.”
Pacific Green Australia chief executive Joel Alexander said his company was pleased the State Government has recognised the rigorous assessment and community consultation work it has undertaken to date.
“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,” Mr Alexander said.
“This is a positive and exciting start to an exceptional pipeline of Australian projects to come.”
