Plans to co-locate batteries with three-quarters of the turbines at a nearly 300 megawatt wind farm proposed for construction in New South Wales have won state development approval, paving the way for what will likely be Australia’s first grid-scale hybrid wind and battery project.
Goldwind Australia late last year applied to the NSW department of planning to include co-located battery energy storage systems (BESS) at 53 turbine locations at its 75-turbine, 298 megawatt (MW) Coppabella wind farm, formerly known as the Yass Valley wind farm.
The modification, lodged in December 2025, proposed to install 5 MW, four-hour BESS units at 53 turbine locations, across the wind farm, which is being developed around 30 km west of Yass, near the towns of Bookham and Binalong.
On Tuesday Goldwind announced that the proposed changes have been approved by the NSW Department of Planning, as well as by network company Transgrid, which has accepted the updated generator performance standards of the DC-coupled project.
The approval allows for up to 53 BESS units to be installed within the wind turbine construction footprint providing a 222.6 MW rated BESS with an installed energy storage capacity of 1,063 megawatt-hours (MWh).
