Excerpt from energy-storage.news
An energy company owned by the government of Queensland has recognised the “important role” battery storage will play in creating Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) hubs in the Australian state.
A utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) tender was opened earlier this month by Stanwell, a major supplier of electricity to the wholesale market and commercial and industrial (C&I) retail customers in Queensland.
Like several other states in Australia, Queensland wants to build REZ facilities and in December 2020 our sister site PV Tech reported that “overwhelming interest” was shown by renewables investors in the AU$145 million (US$109 million) plans. The government was flooded with expressions of interest, receiving enough proposals for more than 60GW of clean energy across 192 projects.
In June, Energy-Storage.news reported that Stanwell, which operates coal and gas plants as well as one small hydroelectric facility and procures renewable energy from third parties, was considering siting a 150MW / 300MWh BESS at or near the site of Tarong, one of its two coal plants.