French independent power producer (IPP) Neoen Australia has begun construction of a 215MW/963MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) at its 440MWp Culcairn Solar Farm in New South Wales, Australia.
The BESS will be delivered by system integrator and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor New HOrizons Ahead (NHOA) Energy alongside a joint venture of Equans Solar and Storage and Bouygues Construction Australia. The same EPC partnership built the Culcairn solar PV power plant itself.
Commercial operations are targeted for 2028. The battery storage system will share the same 330kV grid connection point as the solar PV power plant, enabling it to store energy generated directly on-site before dispatching it into the National Electricity Market (NEM).
Neoen said the project will take its total contribution of renewable energy and storage capacity in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory above 1GW.
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When Neoen received development consent for the Culcairn Solar Farm from the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment in March 2021, approval included provisions for a 100MW/200MWh battery storage system.
Neoen Australia subsequently increased the planned BESS size to up to 800MWh in December 2024, before further expanding it to 904MWh, attributing the expansion to higher energy densities achievable with more recent container unit configurations.
The 963MWh figure announced in the latest construction commencement is a further increase, bringing the storage component to nearly five times the originally planned capacity and substantially beyond any configuration contemplated at the time of development approval.
The project is supported by a Long-Term Energy Service Agreement (LTESA) awarded under the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap.
LTESAs provide revenue-top-up payments during periods when wholesale prices fall below a floor level, reducing price risk for investors and bringing forward capital commitments in large-scale storage assets.
A solar PV power plant that has continued to evolve
The Culcairn Solar Farm reached commercial operations in May 2026, having been built in under two years by a peak workforce of 600 people. The 440MWp facility is Neoen’s second-largest solar asset globally and connects to the NEM via an on-site 330kV transmission line managed by Transgrid. The solar PV power plant features approximately 760,000 modules.
The Culcairn solar PV power plant’s electricity output is partially contracted under a power purchase agreement (PPA) with SmartestEnergy Australia, which agreed to take 50% of the solar PV plant’s output for four years from 2026.
The battery storage system will provide an additional revenue layer through energy arbitrage and grid services, with the behind-the-meter configuration enabling Neoen to optimise the dispatch of stored solar energy independently of the solar farm’s grid connection.
Indeed, Neoen used LinkedIn to describe the project as its first behind-the-meter (BTM) battery deployed at a solar PV plant.
The Culcairn site was also the location of a commercially notable robotics deployment during construction. Luminous, which won AU$4.9 million (US$3.37 million) through Australia’s Solar ScaleUp Challenge, deployed its AI-powered LUMI pick-and-place robot at Culcairn to assist with module installation, reducing project delivery time by approximately 25%.
The Culcairn BESS construction launch comes as Neoen continues to build out its New South Wales storage pipeline alongside its Queensland assets.
The company’s Western Downs Green Power Hub in Queensland now includes an operational Stage 1 BESS of 270MW/540MWh and a Stage 2 system, with the combined site capacity advancing toward 845MW/2.3GWh.
In New South Wales, Neoen’s portfolio spans the Culcairn Solar Farm, the 238.5MW/477MWh standalone Blyth Battery, and a pipeline of wind, solar and storage projects that the company has described as targeting 10GW of Australian capacity by 2030.
Our publisher, Solar Media (part of Informa Group), will host the Battery Asset Management Summit Australia 2026 on 25-26 August at Amora Hotel Jamison in Sydney. You can find out more about the Summit on the official website.
