Zen Energy, Taiwan’s HDRE to develop 695 MW of Australian big batteries

South Australian (SA) electricity generator and retailer Zen Energy has agreed to work with the HDRE subsidiary of Taiwanese renewables company Hongde Energy to develop 695 MW of utility-scale, multi-hour batteries and 100 MW of solar in Australia.

HDRE has committed AUD 14 million ($8.8 million) to the partnership, via the Zebre asset management platform it set up as a joint venture with Zen. The Taiwanese developer has now committed AUD 57 million to Zebre and has acquired the rights to four Australian clean energy projects, in the states of New South Wales (NSW), Victoria, and Queensland as well as other projects in undisclosed Australian locations.

The sites include a 105 MW/420 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in the NSW region of the Riverina, which will begin construction in 2026 and will deliver clean power to almost 35,000 households. The other three standalone BESS and solar-plus-storage sites are in Victoria and Queensland and would supply almost 232,000 households and businesses.

Zebre

The ZEN and HDRE joint venture focuses on the investment and asset management of large-scale Australian photovoltaic and energy storage projects, with an overall target of developing 1.4 GW.

The first Zebre project, the Solar River 256 MW BESS and 210 MW solar farm north of Adelaide, SA, is entering the final stage of its grid connection application. Solar River secured funding in September’s first round of the federal government’s Capacity Investment Scheme, which aims to deliver 9 GW of energy storage and 23 GW of clean energy generation capacity. Zen has signed a tolling agreement to use the services provided by Solar River.

HDRE owns 70% of the Zebre partnership and has paid AUD 43 million for 9.7% of Zen’s stock, valuing the electric company at AUD 443 million.

Zen described its partnership with HDRE as a major milestone for the company and forecast the Zebre platform will boost Australia’s national energy storage capacity from 3 GW to 4 GW.

From pv magazine Australia.