Gamuda Australia and Yanara have signed the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for Stage 1 of the Mortlake Energy Hub (MEH-1) in western Victoria.
The contract follows Gamuda’s appointment in October 2025 under an early contractor involvement (ECI) arrangement, which allowed the partners to advance designs, undertake procurement and begin construction planning ahead of the EPC signing.
Early works, including upgrades to the Hamilton Highway intersection near the project entrance, are expected to begin in the coming weeks, with main construction scheduled to start in November 2026.
MEH-1 will combine 435MW of solar generation with a 300MW/1,350MWh, 4.5-hour-duration battery energy storage system (BESS), connecting to Victoria’s existing 500kV network via the Mortlake Terminal Station.
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The project is scheduled to be energised in April 2028, with commercial operations expected in the first quarter of 2029.
Yanara, the project developer, received its National Electricity Market (NEM) connection agreement from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) in 2024. Gamuda Australia was appointed as ECI delivery partner for the project in January 2026, when the project was described as a 450MW solar PV plant paired with a 600MW/2,400MWh BESS.
The battery configuration now signed under EPC, 300MW with 4.5-hour duration, represents a smaller capacity than that of the earlier scope, reflecting how the project’s technical specifications evolved between the ECI and EPC phases.
Yanara Australia CEO David Delmas said the EPC signing brought together the expertise needed to deliver the project.
“MEH-1 is entering a critical phase of delivery, and our partnership with Gamuda brings together the expertise, capability and shared ambition needed to realise this landmark project,” he said.
“Beyond its scale, MEH represents the next generation of clean energy infrastructure, combining renewable energy generation and storage to deliver reliable, dispatchable power while creating lasting economic value for local communities and Victoria’s energy future.”
Gamuda Engineering Australia CEO Ewan Yee said the ECI process had reduced delivery risk ahead of construction.
“Through our early involvement and collaboration with Yanara through a Contractor Led Design and Procurement process we have progressed the design and procurement to around 80% compared to 30% under a traditional ECI phase, significantly derisking the EPC delivery,” he said.
Yee added that the project marks Gamuda’s first in Victoria and is expected to create more than 300 jobs. MEH-1 will support Victoria’s renewable energy targets of 65% by 2030 and 95% by 2035, as well as the state’s 2045 net-zero emissions objective.
A concentration of battery storage around Mortlake’s existing grid infrastructure
MEH-1 will be developed within a stretch of southwest Victoria that already hosts a concentration of grid-scale battery storage.
Origin Energy’s 300MW/650MWh Mortlake BESS, sited at Origin’s existing Mortlake Power Station gas-fired peaker plant roughly 200km west of Melbourne, began commercial operations in August 2026, connecting directly to AusNet’s 500kV switchyard through a dedicated substation.
Origin first announced the AU$400 million (US$279 million) project in January 2024, citing the site’s location within Victoria’s South West Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) and its ability to draw on existing transmission infrastructure built for the gas plant.
That pattern, pairing new battery storage with legacy generation sites to reduce connection costs and lead times, extends to Gamuda’s own broader Victorian footprint.
In June 2026, Gamuda Renewables acquired an interest in the 1,800MWh Hazelwood North solar-plus-storage project in the Latrobe Valley, a 450MW hybrid development sited on land that draws on transmission capacity left by the closure of the Hazelwood coal-fired power station in 2017.
Gamuda Renewables and Gamuda Australia, the entity delivering Mortlake Energy Hub Stage 1, both sit under the same Gamuda Berhad parent, the Malaysia-listed infrastructure group operating across nine countries, with Gamuda Renewables functioning as the group’s renewable energy development and investment arm and Gamuda Australia serving as its local engineering and construction delivery arm.
Gamuda Renewables said it is exploring the co-location of a data centre at the Hazelwood site, directly powered by on-site solar and battery storage.
Since entering the Australian market in September 2024, Gamuda Renewables has said it reached its initial target of 1-2GW of assets under development within two years and has since revised its ambition to 5GW of assets under development, construction and operation by 2031.
Mortlake Energy Hub Stage 1 represents Gamuda’s first project win in Victoria, specifically, adding a fourth Australian state to a portfolio that already includes solar and storage projects for Edify Energy in Queensland, delivered through Gamuda’s construction arm, DT Infrastructure.
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