PROJECT UPDATE: Bellambi Heights BESS – NSW
Published Date : 2024-August-2, Friday
Vena Energy’s
proposed Bellambi Heights BESS project, located approximately 1.5km south-east
of Beryl and 7km north-west of Gulgong in Mid-Western NSW, has received development
approval from the state government planning authority.
The approximately
408 MW / 816 MWh project started life as the 500 MW Gulgong Solar Farm with an
attached 600 MW BESS, which - after community consultation – was scaled down to
a 200 MW solar farm and 200 MW BESS with a consequent reduction in the
development footprint from 820ha to 305ha.
Vena then made
further changes to the project which became a BESS only, with the development
footprint reduced from 305ha to approximately 25ha.
The
large-scale solar generation component was removed from the project following further
environmental investigations, completed by Vena in 2022, that lead to a
reduction in the potential development footprint.
In a report
Vena said, “The reduction in development footprint would have resulted in a
solar farm design with a generation capacity significantly less than originally
proposed” making it not feasible.
The
BESS will be connected to the NEM via a new switching station, adjacent to the
existing Wollar to Wellington 330 kV transmission line which traverses the
project area, to be constructed as part of the project and operated by
Transgrid.