Coppabella Wind Farm is located across about 6400 hectares and has plans to add a battery system to its layout. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Increased infrastructure at a Capital Country wind farm will bring “significant benefit and value” and give it the ability to store energy, a proposal states.
The Coppabella Wind Farm (CWF) is located across the Hilltops and Yass Valley local government areas and is owned by Goldwind Australia.
The company has lodged plans to amend its existing development consent to include a battery energy storage system (BESS) in the project.
The CWF was first given the green light in 2016, and currently has approval for up to 75 turbines.
A modification report released as part of the approval process states that co-locating a BESS around the turbines would minimise the battery’s environmental impact.
“The final design for implementation [of the CWF] is still subject to detail tendering and financial investment decisions that may see less than 75 turbine sites developed,” the document states.
“The proposed BESS would be co-located at turbine sites on land where landowners have agreed to the BESS on their property and within areas that are part of the disturbance footprint for installation of the turbines and associated construction activities.”
It means that 53 of the turbine sites would host a DC-coupled BESS under the proposal.
The report states that adding a battery would mean the CWF could store and release energy to the National Energy Market (NEM) as demand or wind conditions require.
“It provides fast frequency support by rapidly injecting or absorbing power to stabilise the system, and enables energy shifting by storing excess low-price generation and supplying it during high-demand periods.
“This improves grid stability, supports FCAS requirements, and helps smooth market price volatility.”
The proposed BESS would be composed of up to six open-framed containers, which would be 2.9 metres in height and off-white to help with temperature management.
“[These] are pre-fitted with BESS and pre-wired prior to delivery to [the] site,” the report states.
“Each of the six BESS units will be placed on or adjacent to the hardstand within the area either previously cleared for the blade laydown and/or on part of the turbine hardstand.”
Under the proposal, each of the container units would come with battery cabinets and a DC-DC converter.
The report states that each of the BESS containers would have an energy storage capacity of 3.34 MWh.
According to the report, a centralised BESS was also considered.
This was abandoned, as it would need extra vegetation clearing and electrical infrastructure for it to go ahead.
Proposal documents also state that the co-located BESS isn’t expected to increase project noise levels and would have a low visual impact due to the small size of the units.
An extra 318 heavy vehicle movements would be needed (which would be needed to transport each BESS unit to the site), with a traffic assessment finding existing road network could manage the extra trips.
The project’s maximum generation capacity would be unchanged, meaning it would remain at 289 or 270 MW (the latter being grid connection in TransGrid’s Yass sub-station).
“The modified CWF project will be better aligned with the NEM electricity supply regimes and operate more efficiently in the NEM,” the proposal documents state.
“Inclusion of BESS is increasingly being adopted for renewable energy projects across NSW.”
The layout of the wind turbines is also set to stay the same.
The modification application is on public exhibition until 17 December.
People can have their say through the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure’s (DPHI) major projects website.
