New England Solar Project Manager, Sarah Donnan, Energy Vault CEO and Chair, Robert Piconi, and ACEN Australia Head of Construction and Engineering

 New South Wales’ New England region is charging ahead with its energy transformation, as work begins on its first large-scale battery system.

The 200MW, two-hour battery is the first of two planned systems built by Energy Vault, to be located at ACEN Australia’s 720MW New England Solar project.

Once complete, the project will be able to provide energy on demand to customers in both New South Wales and Queensland.

The 400MWh storage project will also involve the integration of advanced grid-forming inverters to provide system strength, stability, and network security services.

It is the first large-scale battery storage project to begin construction with the support of the New South Wales Government’s Emerging Energy Program.

Energy Vault CEO and Chairman, Robert Piconi, joined the team from New England Solar and ACEN Australia Head of Construction and Engineering, Tim Greenaway, to inspect the battery site.

Mr Greenaway said, “This is the first large-scale battery storage project to be built in New England, so this is a great milestone for the region and the National Electricity Market.

“Our geotechnical and design work is almost complete and work to install the electrical infrastructure to connect the battery is well underway.”

Mr Greenaway said the team expects the civil and base electrical work for the BESS to begin over the next month or two, ready for the delivery of the battery modules in second half of the year.

“We’ll have workers and contractors on site from Uralla, Tamworth and Armidale,” Mr Greenaway said.

“They’ll also be supported by teams from Queensland, South Australia and other parts of New South Wales.”

An expanded switching yard is required to connect the battery system and second stage of the solar project to Transgrid’s transmission network.

The work is being undertaken by Lumea, with civil work complete and final commissioning expected by mid-2025.

A 250MVA electrical transformer weighing 261t is being trucked to site in March 2025 to support the battery system. High-voltage connection specialist EPEC is managing the installation and commissioning of the transformer.

Energy Vault Vice President of Sales Asia, Lucas Sadler, said the New England Battery Project was Energy Vault’s first project to begin construction in Australia.

“There’s a lot of attention worldwide on the battery storage market in Australia and so we’re very happy to be making a positive contribution here on such an important project,” he said.

“We will be using lithium-ion technology coupled with a special inverter, which means we can add advanced grid support functionalities such as voltage and frequency ride-through, grid support during disturbances, and reactive power control.

“We’re very pleased to be working with ACEN Australia, its First Nations partners and the Uralla community on the project.”