US independent power producer (IPP) BrightNight has receoved the green light from the Victoria government, Australia, for its 360MW Mortlake solar-plus-storage project.
The AU$700 million (US$480 million) Mortlake Energy Hub recently secured a connection to the National Electricity Market (NEM) from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) in July.
The project is BrightNight’s first hybrid renewable energy project in Australia. It consists of a 360MW solar PV power plant and a 300MW co-located battery energy storage system (BESS), accounting for more than 1% of the state’s total electricity consumption. The company plans to begin construction on the project in 2025.
A statement released by the Victoria government today (3 October) revealed that the Mortlake project became eligible for the Labor government’s Development Facilitation Program pathway, an initiative to speed up the development of critical infrastructure projects in Victoria.
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The Mortlake Energy Hub becomes another large-scale energy project to have been fast-tracked through the Victoria government’s new scheme. As covered by Energy-Storage.news in late August, ACEnergy saw its 350MW/700MWh Joel Joel project fast-tracked, in what will be the state’s “largest” BESS project.
Florida, US-headquartered BrightNight specialises in hybrid renewables-plus-storage and standalone battery storage projects. It secured a US$440 million investment commitment from Goldman Sachs Alternatives earlier this year.
It has featured on Energy-Storage.news in recent weeks for its activities in the US, which include a utility off-take deal in Washington State for a 200MW/800MWh standalone BESS being developed in partnership with Cordelio Power, and an application to build a generation tie-in transmission line (gen-tie) for a hybrid project in Arizona, also with Cordelio.
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