Two Australian BESS developments have advanced, with a 10-year offtake signed for a planned 4-hour project in Victoria and the first BESS units delivered to a solar-plus-storage site in New South Wales (NSW).
The State Electricity Commission (SEC), Victoria’s state-owned energy company, announced on Monday (2 November) a 10-year offtake agreement covering the operational Glenrowan Solar Farm and a planned 102MW, 4-hour BESS at the site.
Separately, Gentari Australia, the local subsidiary of Malaysia’s Gentari Renewables, said last week that the first BESS units had arrived at its 172MW/409MWh Maryvale Solar and Energy Storage Project in NSW.
SEC signs 10-year deal for Glenrowan BESS
The 102MW Glenrowan Solar Farm, in Victoria’s north-east, is owned by Pacific Partnerships. The SEC already buys the solar PV plant’s output, and the new agreement replaces that arrangement and adds the BESS.
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According to the SEC, the BESS will strengthen its ability to supply government and commercial and industrial (C&I) customers. The company supplies renewable energy, backed by storage, to more than 4,400 sites, meeting about 5% of Victoria’s total electricity demand.
“This agreement will allow us to make better use of the solar energy generated during the day and strengthen our ability to supply customers during periods of high demand,” said SEC CEO Chris Miller.
“We are building a diverse portfolio that brings generation and storage together to support Victoria’s energy future.”
Pacific Partnerships said the solar PV plant was the first project supported by the second Victorian Renewable Energy Target auction (VRET2) to start generating and has operated since May 2024. When the results were announced in October 2022, PV Tech reported that Glenrowan was the only one of six winning VRET2 projects without battery storage.
David Lovell, general manager – energy at Pacific Partnerships, said the project would be the company’s “first large-scale BESS hybridisation”.
He added that the SEC deal provides “an important foundation” for taking the BESS to construction.
The deal adds to the SEC’s storage holdings. The company co-developed and contributed AU$245 million (US$171 million) in equity to Equis’s 600MW/1.6GWh Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub, which began commercial operations in December 2025.
It also owns the 100MW/200MWh SEC Renewable Energy Park in Horsham, where Energy Vault is supplying the BESS, with full operation expected in 2027.
Victoria has set targets of at least 2.6GW of energy storage by 2030 and 6.3GW by 2035, as noted in Energy-Storage.news’ coverage of the SEC’s first investment under its 4.5GW renewable energy and storage pipeline.
First CATL units arrive at Maryvale
Gentari said a total of 122 units are planned for Maryvale’s 172MW/409MWh BESS, which will be integrated with 243MWp of solar PV generation. The company named EPC contractor PCL Construction and CATL as its delivery partners.
The project is about 37km southeast of Dubbo in the Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) and holds a long-term energy service agreement (LTESA) from the fourth tender under the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap.
PV Tech reported in August that commercial operations at Maryvale are scheduled for the second quarter of 2027, with a maximum export of 172MW and import of 91MW. TrinaSolar supplied the solar modules and CATL the lithium iron phosphate (LFP) BESS.
Power conversion is supplied by Spain-headquartered Ingeteam. Our colleagues at PV Tech reported in July 2025 that Ingeteam’s scope covers 32 power stations, with 61 central PV inverters and 488 units of 430kW DC-DC storage converters, plus its hybrid plant controller.
Ingeteam described Maryvale as “eastern Australia’s first DC-coupled solar and storage hybrid project”, though other DC-coupled sites are underway. In Victoria, Wärtsilä, through its 50:50 joint venture Valo Energy, is supplying a 64MW/128MWh DC-coupled BESS for Octopus Australia’s VRET2-supported Fulham solar-plus-storage project, due for completion by 2027.
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