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Low-key developer Silo Energy plans to take full advantage of a strategic site to develop the Gugaa Battery Energy Storage System, to be located near Gregadoo in the local government area of Wagga Wagga.

The proposed BESS is a massive 1000 MW / 4000 MWh facility, most likely built in two stages, on part of a 40.2-hectare landholding opposite Transgrid’s under-construction 330/550kV Gugaa Sub-station, to which it will connect.

Gugaa BESS is planned to occupy approximately 24 hectares of the site which is used for agriculture, primarily as grazing land.

The BESS will be comprised of approximately 1024 battery enclosure units each with a maximum estimated energy capacity of 4 MWh.

Allowance has been made to construct the project in two stages of 500 MW / 2000 MWh each, with delivery scheduled for mid-2028 and 2030 respectively.

Silo Energy selected the BESS site near the Gugaa Sub-station as it will be “a part of Transgrid’s HumeLink electrical transmission line infrastructure currently under construction that will be a core part of the NSW, SA and eventually VIC power network”.

The Gugaa Sub-station will provide a link between the local Riverina power network, HumeLink West and the Snowy 2.0 hydro project. Transgrid said the Gugaa Sub-station is needed “as the Wagga 330kV substation does not have space to support the HumeLink project’s infrastructure needs”.

This Gugaa BESS project has an estimated development cost of $350 million and is expected to have a peak workforce of approximately 125 people.

Silo Energy is also developing the 150 MW / 900 MWh Egans Hill BESS in Gracemere, Queensland for which a development application has been submitted to Rockhampton Regional Council.

(Image sourced from Transgrid)