Dive Brief:
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Lyon Group of Brisbane, Australia, has proposed a $767 million solar-plus-storage facility in South Australia, according to multiple media outlets.
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The Riverland project calls for a 330 MW solar farm coupled with 100 MW, 400 MWh lithium-ion battery facility.
- Construction on the project is expected to begin in June with commissioning by the year's end.
Dive Insight:
Recent blackouts and near blackouts in South Australia have raised concerns about the state’s energy future. They have also prompted several developers to step forward with plans for solar-plus-storage, as well as stand-alone energy storage projects.
AGL Energy in August proposed a 5 MW, 7 MWh virtual power plant that would link solar panels and batteries across 1,000 homes and businesses in South Australia.
More recently, ZEN Energy proposed a 50 MW battery project in Port Augusta that the company says could solve the state’s blackouts problems. Not to be outdone, Tesla said it could solve the reliability problems with the installation of a 100 MW battery system that Lyndon Rive, the head of the company’s battery division, said could be installed in 100 days.
The South Australia project announcement follows a 30 MW solar farm Lyon is building in Cooktown, Queensland, that will be paired with a 1.4 MW (5.3 MWh) li-ion battery storage facility.
Lyon’s Riverland project would qualify for up to renewable energy subsidies of up to $63/MWh. Lyon has financing backing from Mitsubishi and the Magnetar Capital hedge fund.
Correction: A previous version of this post implied Blackstone invested in Lyon's new solar-plus-storage project.