Spanish energy giant Naturgy has reached a financial investment decision on its second solar-battery hybrid project in Australia, having already delivered the country’s first a little over a year ago.
Naturgy says the $500 million Fraser Coast project, combing a 290 megawatt (MW) solar farm and a 180 MW, two hour battery, about 50km south-west of Maryborough, is now being built and will be finished in 2028.
The project has landed a 10 year power purchase agreement with an unidentified buyer, although Telstra has figured prominently in the some of the company’s other key projects in Australia.
Naturgy delivered Australia’s first solar-battery hybrid in Cunderdin, in Western Australia, where it combined a 128 MW solar farm last year with a 55 MW, 220 megawatt-hour (MWh) battery.
Solar-battery hybrids are proving popular because they share the same connection, allowing solar to be stored for dispatch in more lucrative high demand periods, and are now proving competitive and easier to build and connect than larger wind projects.
