The company plans to construct a 400 megawatt (MW) battery with a capacity of 1,600 megawatt-hours (MWh) in the New England region of New South Wales. This will be accompanied by a 115 MW solar farm that FRV completed three years ago. The project, known as the Armidale East BESS, has been submitted for environmental approval under the federal government's EPBC Act and promises to supply up to four hours of stored renewable energy to the grid during peak periods.
FRV proposes to build the battery around 18 kilometers east of Armidale, adjacent to its existing Metz Solar Farm, which began full commercial operations in September 2022. The project is expected to have an operational life of around 40 years and will support grid stability, reliability, and efficiency, as well as the integration of more renewables in the region.
The referral documents state that the proposed action is highly compatible with the existing energy generation and transmission infrastructure, including the Metz Solar Farm and adjacent 330kV transmission line. However, the land proposed for the battery is the traditional lands of the Anaiwan, Gumbaynggirr, and Dhunghatti people, which has been largely cleared for sheep grazing and forestry plantation. Five threatened fauna species have been identified as likely to use habitat in the project area.
FRV's Metz solar farm has the capacity to meet the power demand of 40,000 NSW households and secured a power purchase agreement with Snowy Hydro in 2018. In 2021, FRV sold a major stake in its Australian subsidiary to Omers Infrastructure, a Canada-based company, to help fast-track and expand its multi-gigawatt pipeline of solar and big battery projects across Australia.
FRV Australia has a portfolio of almost 1 gigawatt (GW) of solar and 102.5MW / 205MWh of batteries, including six operational solar farms, a hybrid solar and BESS project, the Terang BESS in Victoria, and the Walla Walla solar farm under construction in NSW. The company's first big battery project in Australia is the 100MW/200MWh Terang BESS in south-west Victoria, which kicked off development after securing a large round of funding last year.
