- Another huge battery project could be coming to New South Wales (NSW) after the state planning department received a proposal for a whopping 400MW/1,600MWh standalone battery storage facility.
- The project will connect to Transgrid’s Muswellbrook substation via a 330kV transmission, forming part of NSW’s high-voltage electricity transmission network.
Another huge battery project could be coming to New South Wales (NSW), after the state planning department received a proposal for a whopping 400MW/1,600MWh standalone battery storage facility slated for McCullys Gap, near Muswellbrook.
The application was submitted last week on behalf of the Australian development arm of UK-based BW ESS, which plans to invest upwards of $A800 million into the project.
With a claimed development pipeline exceeding 2.6 GWh worth of BESS capacity across the country, the project has the potential to solidify BW ESS as a leader in Australia’s energy storage space.
BW ESS’s McCullys Gap BESS project will be located approximately 6 kilometres northeast of Muswellbrook in NSW within the Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone (HCC REZ).
According to the application, BW ESS has already secured site control for the development, which is expected to encompass around 13.38 hectares of land. The initial development of the McCully Gap project was carried out by UK-based developer Penso Power, which became part of BW ESS in October 2024.
The HCC REZ touted as the first region of its kind in Australia, has been home to the state’s hyper-polluting coal industry for over a century. However, NSW is slowly moving away from outdated energy sources, with the state’s four remaining coal-fired power plants set to close over the next 15 years.
As Australia (and the world) transitions away from burning fossil fuels, green sources of dispatchable energy, such as battery storage, will become vital for firming up the electricity grid during periods of low solar and wind generation.
The project will connect to Transgrid’s Muswellbrook substation via a 330kV transmission, forming part of NSW’s high-voltage electricity transmission network.
Construction on the McCully Gap BESS is expected to take approximately 18 months to complete, with BW ESS hoping to break ground sometime next year.
Globally, BW ESS claims to have a development pipeline of BESS projects of around 17GW across Europe and Australia. This includes the company’s flagship 750MW/3,000MWh Bannaby BESS project that’s also slated for NSW and expected to come online during the first half of 2028.