Australia-based battery energy storage system (BESS) developer, owner and operator Stor-Energy has submitted plans for a 730MWh battery storage project in New South Wales to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
The 150MW/730MWh Molong Battery project, which will provide nearly 5 hours of storage duration at full output, is being planned for the small town of Molong, in the Central West region of New South Wales.
The BESS project would be located near the Molong substation, owned by network operator TransGrid. Here, it would connect to the National Electricity Market (NEM), which spans Australia’s southern and eastern states, including Tasmania.
According to documents submitted as part of the EPBC Act application, the project area encompasses approximately 426 hectares across two lots. The disturbance footprint would be limited to 9.6 hectares representing about 2.3% of the total project area.
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The project would feature 264 battery enclosures housed within modular containers, each measuring approximately six meters long. Subject to final design adjustments, these are likely to be arranged in a linear configuration.
The system would include 50 power conversion stations containing inverters, transformers, and switchgear to convert electricity between DC and AC.
Stor-Energy said construction would take roughly 14 months, followed by an eight-month commissioning period. The project’s anticipated operational lifespan would be approximately 30 years from the commercial operations date, though this may evolve with technological advancements.
Following this period, comprehensive decommissioning would be undertaken to return the site as close as possible to its original state, with all activities conducted in accordance with regulatory requirements applicable at that time.
The documentation states that the “primary purpose of the project is to support Australia’s energy shift and to improve overall grid stability and resilience through storing excess energy from the network during low demand periods and distributing back at peak demand times.”
Beyond energy arbitrage, the application notes that the BESS would provide critical ancillary network support services, including frequency regulation.
The Molong BESS becomes the latest submission from Stor-Energy to Australia’s EPBC Act, following an application for two BESS in Queensland in late July.
As previously reported by Energy-Storage.news, the Columboola West and East BESS, which are 1,950MWh and 1,449MWh in size, respectively, would be built near the rural town of Columboola in Queensland’s Western Downs region.
Planning approval will be sought in early 2026, and construction is proposed to commence in the second quarter of 2026. Construction is expected to take approximately 21 months.
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