News

Idemitsu Australia is taking a different approach to most for a planned utility-scale battery project in the Hunter region by opting for vanadium flow technology.

The minimum 108 MW / 864 MWh AC Hunter Vanadium Flow Battery is being developed on a site in Muswellbrook, in the Muswellbrook Shire Council LGA and within the Hunter-Central Coast REZ.

The project will connect to Ausgrid’s 132kV Sandy Creek Sub-station via one of two identified transmission corridor alignments.

The project area covers approximately 44 hectares of mining-impacted land owned by Muswellbrook Coal Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Idemitsu Australia.

Mining operations at Muswellbrook Coal Mine stopped in 2022 and the site has undergone rehabilitation.

In consultation and collaboration with Muswellbrook Shire Council and key industry partners, Idemitsu developed a post-mining plan “to investigate the viability of and plan for a wide range of renewable energy and other projects, on and around the Muswellbrook site”.

Now referred to as the Muswellbrook Clean Industries Precinct, the plan includes using the coal mine void as part of the Muswellbrook Pumped Hydro Energy Storage Project and the under-construction Muswellbrook Solar Farm being developed by OX2.

Idemitsu plans to build on that platform by adding a grid-scale long-duration BESS and selected vanadium redox flow battery technology.

One of the reasons to use vanadium flow batteries was “a catalyst project which will support Australian manufacturing and demonstrate the technology’s readiness for the broader market adoption”.

In alignment with the federal government’s Future Made in Australia program, Idemitsu plans to use a vanadium electrolyte that is manufactured in Australia, and said opportunities to bring battery manufacturing to Australia will be explored.

A Scoping Report for the Hunter Vanadium Flow Battery project is being assessed by the state planning authority.