Australia’s largest battery park approved

Pacific Green, a global battery energy storage company, has secured a planning permit for the development of a grid-scale battery energy park in Portland, Victoria.

Once constructed, it will become Australia’s largest battery energy park — providing up to 1GW of firming capacity — and will significantly boost energy storage capacity, securing the state’s energy stability and transition to net-zero emissions.

Strategically positioned within an industrial zone, the energy park is near the Portland aluminium smelter and the Portland water treatment plant, enabling the asset to provide energy security to strategic businesses and augment existing electrical infrastructure positioned nearby.

Victoria Energy and Resources Minister Lily D’Ambrosio says the park will power 345,000 homes and slash energy bills state-wide.

“This battery [park] will soak up cheap renewable power during the day and deliver it when demand peaks,” she said.

Following the successful development of 1GWh of battery energy storage at Limestone Coast, South Australia, Portland energy park represents the next step in Pacific Green’s ambition to develop its pipeline of over 7GWh of battery energy parks across the National Electricity Market.

Pacific Green group chief executive and chairman Scott Poulter says the Portland project will play a major role in decarbonising Australia’s energy system.

“[The project’s] scale underlines our ambition to become a leading developer in the market and to accelerate the nation’s transition to renewables through a multi-gigawatt platform,” he said.

In August, Pacific Green secured a $77m debt facility with the Longreach Credit Investors and Australian Philanthropic Services Foundation to fund the development of a 7GWh pipeline and expand the platform within the Australian market.

In the same month, the company also signed a landmark framework agreement with Re2 Capital covering seven to 10-year capacity revenue swap arrangements across four Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) projects located in South Australia, Victoria, NSW and Queensland, in support of 2GWh of new storage capacity.