Planning approval secured for 500 MW/2,000 MWh battery energy storage system in Australia

Western Australia’s Regional Joint Development Assessment Panel has approved Synergy’s plans to construct a 500 MW, four-hour battery energy storage system near the coal town of Collie in Western Australia and has also provided a green light for infrastructure approvals to support a possible expansion to 1,000 MW/4,000 MWh.

Synergy intends to construct the Collie Battery Energy Storage System (CBESS), valued at AUD 1.6 billion (USD1.05 billion), situated about 200 km southwest of Perth, just north of the existing Collie Power Station. The CBESS will be linked to the South West Interconnected System (SWIS) via the Shotts Terminal, which serves as the electricity grid supplying power to Perth and over a million homes and businesses across the region extending from Geraldton to Esperance and east to Kalgoorlie.

The initial phase of the project will involve installing two 'sub facilities' with a capacity of 250 MW each and a total energy storage of 1,000 MWh. These sub-facilities will include 656 battery enclosures, 164 inverters, and potentially up to four 330/33 kV transformer units. Notably, the Collie BESS marks the third large-scale battery project undertaken by Synergy in the southwestern region of Western Australia. The company is expecting the battery to commence the commissioning process in October 2025.