Neoen wins permit for 1-GW/4-GWh battery in Western Australia

Neoen SA (EPA:NEOEN) has been granted development approval for its 1-GW/4-GWh Collie battery energy storage system (BESS) in Western Australia, enabling the French firm to begin construction next year.

The green light was given by the Shire of Collie and the Regional Joint Development Assessment Panel (JDAP) on Tuesday.

To be located near the coal town of Collie, around 215 km (134 miles) southeast of Perth, the huge battery will be installed in five 200-MW/800-MWh stages and will be connected to the South West Interconnected System (SWIS), the state’s main electricity grid. The complex site will span 31 acres (12.5 ha).

The project will be implemented to address intermittencies in the energy supply and grid fluctuations. The battery will provide system security services such as inertia, frequency control, system strength and voltage control.

Each phase of the project is planned to take between 12 and 24 months to build, Neoen said. The renewable power producer intends to break ground on the first stage in the third quarter of 2023 and bring it online in the last quarter of 2024 or the first trimester of 2025.

Once stage one is commissioned, the facility will provide storage capacity to cover the average energy needs of 260,000 households for an hour.

According to media reports, Neoen will invest around AUD 2 billion (USD 1.34bn/EUR 1.28bn) to execute the project.

(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.670/EUR 0.640)

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