Australian renewables developer Edify Energy has submitted plans for a 2,400MWh solar-plus-storage project to Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
The Nowingi Solar Power Station is being proposed 47km to the south of Mildura, on the Victorian side of the Murray River, near the border with New South Wales.
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The project will feature a 300MWac solar PV power plant developed alongside an up to 300MW/2,400MWh 8-hour duration battery energy storage system (BESS).
It will span an area of 637 hectares within the Mildura Rural City Council Local Government Area’s farming zone, which is currently managed for agricultural practices.
According to documents submitted as part of the EPBC Act application, the BESS will connect to the National Electricity Market (NEM) via an existing overhead 220kV transmission line owned and operated by Ausnet, which runs from Red Cliffs to Horsham.
The NEM spans Australia’s eastern and southern coasts as well as the island state of Tasmania. Fluence’s Rob Hills, APAC vice-president of engineering and commissioning, and Sam Markham, growth manager, Australia and New Zealand, recently discussed some of the trends in this market with ESN Premium.
Construction timeline and job creation
Construction on the Nowingi Solar Power Station is expected to take around 18 months. At its peak, the project will generate approximately 250 full-time jobs. Once operational, the project will employ around five permanent positions to operate and maintain the solar PV power plant.
The site aims to ensure agricultural practices can continue through the use of agrivoltaics, or ‘agriPV’. Agrivoltaics has been incorporated in several of Edify’s other Australian projects, notably the 80MW Peninsula Solar Farm and the 250MW Muskerry Solar Power Station in Victoria.
Energy storage in Australia’s EPBC Act
The EPBC queue, administered by the Federal government, aims to protect nationally threatened species and ecological communities. The approval must be received before a project can be developed.
In recent months, several utility-scale and co-located BESS have been submitted to the Act.
This includes Samsung C&T Renewable Energy Australia, which recently submitted plans for a 100MW/400MWh BESS proposed 30.6km south of Wagga Wagga in New South Wales, near Mangoplah.
Another notable submission in recent weeks is ACE Power’s proposed Talbingo Battery, a 450MW/1,800MWh grid-connected BESS located approximately 5km south of Talbingo, a small rural town at the edge of the Snowy Mountains.
ACE Power has also seen success in the EPBC Act in recent months. Specifically, the group received clearance for its Eastern Hub Firming Battery, which would see a BESS of up to 8,000MWh developed.Our publisher, Solar Media, will host the Battery Asset Management Summit Australia 2025 on 26-27 August in Sydney.You can get 20% off your ticket usi
