The New South Wales (NSW) Government in Australia has granted approval for additional battery energy storage at ACEN Corp.’s Australian unit’s New England Solar project.
Ayala-led ACEN believes this development will exert downward pressure on electricity bills as the country progresses towards a cleaner and more sustainable energy future.
The NSW government has given the green light to ACEN Australia’s proposal to expand the capacity of the New England Solar battery energy storage system to 2,800 megawatt hours, a substantial amount of energy capable of supplying approximately 175,000 households with on-demand power.
The New England Solar project, with a total capacity of 720 MW, is being constructed in two stages, with Stage 1 of 400 MW officially inaugurated in March of this year.
This approval marks a significant milestone for the project as it paves the way for planning and preparation for stage 2 of the New England Solar project, bringing it one step closer to construction. The project had already received approval from the NSW Independent Planning Commission in 2020, which included the authorization for a 200 MW/2-hour battery energy storage system.
The recent approval from the Department of Planning and Environment allows for a modification that increases the battery energy storage capacity to 1,400 MW/2 hours, or a total of 2,800 megawatt hours.
The project modification also entails some adjustments to the solar project area of Stage 2, optimizing the overall project and progressing it towards the construction phase.
