Genex Power plans to deploy battery system

According to foreign media reports, Australian renewable energy developer and power producer Genex Power has acquired a 2GW clean energy project. The project is planned to be constructed in five phases. The first phase will deploy a large battery storage in Queensland, Australia. energy system.

The company announced that it had acquired the development rights for the project, called Bulli Creek, from the project's original developer, Solar Choice.

Genex Power's solar farm in Kidston, where the company is building a 2GWh pumped-storage facility

The Genex Power project is planned to start with the first phase, which is the proposed deployment of a 400MW/1,600MWh battery energy storage system. The scale of the project is the same as the current largest battery storage system in the world, the Moss Landing battery storage system that is operating in California.

The project is about 100km from the city of Toowoomba in south-east Queensland, and its subsequent phases will see the deployment of solar power facilities. It is planned to deploy 475MW to 675MW of solar power generation facilities successively, and finally reach the goal of deploying 2GW of clean energy released by Genex Power on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

Solar Choice started scale development of the Bulli Creek project back in 2013, purchasing 5,000 hectares of land due to the project's proximity to grid infrastructure and power demand centres.

The project is 4km from the 330kV Bulli Creek substation, which supplies the interconnected grid between Queensland and New South Wales, and is close to Brisbane and the regional reference node, which is part of the National Electricity Market (NEM) One of the interconnection points. Proximity to substations means lower grid connection costs.

The Bulli Creek Clean Energy Project has received development approval from the Queensland Government, as well as environmental protection, biodiversity and conservation approvals for the entire site and a permit for Aboriginal cultural heritage.

Genex Power expects to make a final investment decision on the project in the second half of 2024. Solar Choice will receive development fees, and Genex Power is seeking to develop with a partner. The company's chief executive James Harding said discussions with some potential partners had already begun.

This will be the second battery storage project that Genex Power has deployed to date. The company also completed the financial settlement of its first battery storage battery project in Queensland in February this year. The energy storage project, called Bouldecombe, is a 50MW/100MWh battery storage system.

Genex Power is currently deploying the Bouldercombe energy storage project, while the company is building the 250MW/2,000MWh Kidston 2 pumped-storage facility, the first large-scale pumped-storage project in Australia since the early 1980s. And the company is also building the Kidston solar farm in Queensland.

James Harding, CEO of Genex Power, said: “The Bulli Creek battery storage project is a continuation of our energy storage strategy and will be one of the largest battery storage systems in the Australian electricity market, which is exciting for us. There are opportunities to apply broader market knowledge and experience gained from the development of the Kidston pumped hydro generation facility and the Bouldercombe battery storage project.”

The company said fluctuations in Australian electricity prices were reflected in market activity in Australia's National Electricity Market (NEM), which demonstrated the urgent need for dispatchable electricity to enter the market from clean energy sources such as the Bulli Creek project, the Bouldercombe project and the Kidston 2 pumped-storage generation facility.

Genex Power was the target of a recent A$319 million ($222.5 million) takeover offer from Skip Essential Infrastructure Fund and Stonepeak Partners, which it rejected. However, Genex Power chief executive James Harding said the company was still open to negotiating with potential buyers.