ZEBRE, a joint venture between Taiwanese renewable energy developer HD Renewable Energy (HDRE) and Australian developer ZEN Energy, has submitted the 180MW/360MWh Noblevale Battery in Queensland for federal environmental assessment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
The referral covers a standalone grid-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) to be located on a repurposed mining site near Swanbank, in the Ipswich City Council area, approximately 45km south-west of Brisbane.
The project has a power output of 180MW and a storage capacity of 360MWh, giving it a 2-hour duration at full power. ZEBRE notes the project capacity may increase while maintaining the same footprint, subject to battery technology improvements available at the time of construction
In doing so, the project aims to cater for the pace of improvements in lithium-ion cell energy density and system-level efficiency across successive generations of utility-scale BESS.
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The facility will connect to the National Electricity Market (NEM) via a new underground transmission cable running to the nearby Blackstone electrical substation.
The underground routing was selected to avoid impacts on native vegetation, habitat, and wildlife movement corridors, with the cable traversing an existing high-voltage overhead power line easement that is already devoid of native vegetation.
The BESS will be configured across three battery yards within a total disturbance footprint of 6.33 hectares. Infrastructure on site will include a substation, internal roads, a site office, a control building, a maintenance shed, underground wastewater and rainwater holding tanks, a stormwater detention basin, and koala-proof fencing.
Construction activities will include earthworks to level the site and create bench surfaces for the battery equipment; civil works to prepare equipment foundations and cable trenches; equipment delivery and installation; electrical cabling, connection, commissioning, and energisation.
The site is currently used for cattle grazing on degraded eucalypt woodland and exotic pasture.
Its location within the Swanbank Industrial Area, a former coal and mining hub in south-east Queensland, means the project is sited close to existing transmission infrastructure, minimising the length of cable required for grid connection and reducing both costs and environmental disturbance compared with a greenfield transmission connection.
The Swanbank area, where Noblevale will be located, already hosts CleanCo Queensland’s 250MW/500MWh Swanbank BESS, which officially opened in February 2026 on the site of the former Swanbank B coal station.
ZEBRE’s Noblevale project occupies a different part of the Swanbank Industrial Area, the referral describing its site as positioned within what is expected to become the Swanbank Clean Energy Hub as part of the Queensland government’s clean energy initiatives.
Ipswich City Council approved the development application for the project on 11 December 2025 under the Planning Act 2016. Construction is planned to begin on 1 September 2027, with completion targeted for 1 June 2029.
Business as usual for ZEBRE despite ZEN Energy administration
The Noblevale submission represents a continuation of ZEBRE’s development programme despite the financial difficulties facing its Australian partner.
As reported by Energy-Storage.news, ZEN Energy appointed administrators in early 2026, with wholesale electricity market volatility cited as the primary driver.
The referral confirms ZEBRE’s joint venture structure, with HDRE Trust II holding 70% and Zen Future, a subsidiary of ZEN Energy, holding 30%, and the Noblevale project held through a separate trustee entity, Noblevale I Project I Pty Ltd as trustee of the Noblevale I Project Trust.
That structure has insulated the project from ZEN Energy’s broader financial position.
ZEBRE acquired the 111MW/333MWh Templers BESS in South Australia in May 2025 for around AU$80 million (US$51 million), purchasing it from ZEN Energy and retaining it within the joint venture.
The referral notes that ZEBRE has previously progressed the Templers project through construction and into the operational phase while complying with permit and approval conditions throughout, providing the joint venture with an EPBC Act compliance track record.
The Solar River solar-plus-storage project in South Australia, also managed by the same team, received an EPBC controlled action decision in November 2025.
In May 2025, Energy-Storage.news reported that ZEN Energy submitted the Hookey Creek Hybrid Project in Queensland for EPBC Act assessment on behalf of ZEBRE, a 200MW solar-plus-storage project with a BESS of between 4-8 hours duration.
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