CWP Renewables has announced that it has received planning approval from the Department of Planning and Environment of the government of New South Wales, a state in the south-east of Australia, to expand its 270 MW Sapphire wind farm into wind, solar and battery hybrid project called the Sapphire Renewable Energy Hub.
CWP plans to add around 200 MW solar and storage capacity to the hub, which will be fully completed in 2020. Located in the New England region of the state, the Sapphire wind farm commenced construction in January 2017 and is expected to be fully operational in coming months. Construction of the solar and battery infrastructure is anticipated to commence construction in early 2019 and will take approximately 14 months.
According to CWP’s Head of Development, the Sapphire Renewable Energy Hub will be the largest such project in the world. Its development is anticipated to enable largescale exports of dispatchable renewable energy from the region.
