Australia’s federal government has added 11 new generation and battery storage projects to its National Renewable Energy Priority List.
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) said the updated Priority List includes one new transmission project and 11 generation and energy storage projects, identified in collaboration with state and territory governments to help streamline planning and environmental approval processes for nationally important renewable energy infrastructure.
The latest additions follow 23 projects on the Priority List receiving the “green light” under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
These comprise 10 transmission projects and 13 generation and storage projects that have either been approved, approved with conditions or determined not to be controlled actions under the legislation, representing a key step towards financial close.
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Among the new projects added are several large hybrid renewable energy developments combining wind or solar generation with battery energy storage systems (BESS). A full breakdown of the new projects can be seen below.
| Project name | Company | State/Territory | Technology | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baldon Wind Farm | Goldwind Australia | New South Wales | Wind + BESS | Wind: 1,400MW BESS: 400MWh |
| Dinawan Energy Hub – Wind Farm | Spark Renewables | New South Wales | Wind | Stage 1: 357MW Stage 2: 350MW |
| Yanco Delta Wind Farm | Origin Energy | New South Wales | Wind + BESS | Wind: 1,500MW BESS: 800MWh |
| Coppabella Wind Farm BESS | Goldwind Australia | New South Wales | BESS | 1,063MWh |
| Bowmans Creek Wind Farm (Stage 2 and BESS) | Ark Energy | New South Wales | Wind + BESS | Wind: 120MW BESS: 2,414MWh |
| Bendemeer Renewable Energy Hub | Metis Energy | New South Wales | Solar + BESS | Solar: 255MW BESS: 300MWh |
| Bullawah Wind Farm | Bullawah Wind Farm Pty Ltd | New South Wales | Wind + BESS | Wind: 803.7MW BESS: 718MWh |
| Marri Wind Farm | Alinta Energy | Western Australia | Wind | 550MW |
| Wattle Creek Solar Farm | Spark Renewables | New South Wales | Solar + BESS | Solar: 265MW BESS: 200MWh |
| Yathroo Wind Farm | Neoen Australia | Western Australia | Wind | 500MW |
| West Arthur Wind Farm | Lacour Energy | Western Australia | Wind | 500MW |
These include Goldwind Australia’s 1.4GW Baldon Wind Farm, which features a 400MWh BESS, Origin Energy’s Yanco Delta Wind Farm with 1.5GW of wind generation and an 800MWh battery, and Ark Energy’s Bowmans Creek Wind Farm Stage 2, which incorporates a 2,414MWh battery storage system.
Goldwind Australia’s 1,063MWh Coppabella Wind Farm BESS has been added to the list, while Spark Renewables appears twice through the Dinawan Energy Hub wind project and the Wattle Creek Solar Farm, which pairs 265MW of solar PV with a 200MWh battery storage system.
Other additions include Metis Energy’s Bendemeer Renewable Energy Hub, Bullawah Wind Farm, Alinta Energy’s Marri Wind Farm, Neoen Australia’s Yathroo Wind Farm and Lacour Energy’s West Arthur Wind Farm.
Priority List reflects projects progressing through approvals
The National Renewable Energy Priority List was launched in March 2025 as a mechanism to coordinate support across federal, state and territory governments for projects considered important to Australia’s energy transition.
Rather than guaranteeing approval, the scheme is intended to help projects navigate planning and environmental assessment processes more efficiently while maintaining existing regulatory requirements.
When the inaugural Priority List was published, it identified 56 projects nationally, including 24 transmission developments and 32 generation and storage projects.
As reported by Energy-Storage.news at the time, the list included more than 6GW of energy storage capacity across battery and pumped hydro projects alongside 16GW of renewable energy generation.
Projects such as Pacific Green’s 250MW Limestone Coast West BESS, SunCable’s 100MW Darwin Battery Energy Storage System and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners’ 750MW Capricornia pumped hydro project featured among the original storage assets selected for accelerated support.
The latest update showcases how the list is intended to evolve over time. As projects progress through the approvals process and secure EPBC Act decisions, they are removed from the active Priority List, creating space for new developments to be added.
According to DCCEEW, the current Priority List has the potential to deliver around 20GW of new generation capacity and approximately 10GW of storage capacity if all projects ultimately proceed through planning and construction.
The growing presence of battery storage across successive Priority List updates mirrors broader investment trends in Australia’s electricity market.
Earlier this year, the Clean Energy Council (CEC) confirmed that Australia had become the world’s third-largest utility-scale battery storage market, after 4.3GW of large-scale battery storage projects reached financial close in 2025, overtaking the UK.
As expected, battery storage accounted for the majority of clean energy investment commitments during the year.
The latest additions to the Priority List reinforce that trend. Of the 11 new generation and storage projects, the majority include either co-located battery storage or standalone BESS capacity, continuing the shift towards hybrid renewable energy developments capable of providing both electricity generation and flexible grid support.
Several of the newly added projects also rank among the larger battery developments currently proposed in Australia, with Bowmans Creek, Coppabella and Yanco Delta together representing more than 4GWh of planned energy storage.
DCCEEW said the Priority List will continue to be updated as additional projects receive EPBC Act decisions and further nationally important renewable energy developments are identified with states and territories, supporting its objective of delivering a “faster to yes, faster to no” approach to environmental approvals while accelerating Australia’s renewable energy transition.
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