Iberdrola Acquires 270 MW BESS Project in South Australia

Iberdrola SA bought the 270-megawatt (MW), 1,080-megawatt-hour (MWh) Tungkillo battery energy storage system (BESS) project in South Australia from RES Australia.

The project “has all the key approvals and very advanced connection rights, in addition to the land already secured”, Iberdrola said in a press release. The Spanish power utility expects to start up the project 2028.

Iberdrola estimates EUR 275 million ($322.04 million) in investment to complete the project.

“The Australian system requires a significant increase in battery storage capacity to integrate the new renewable capacity and bring flexibility to the system”, Iberdrola said. “The location of the Tungkillo project, in the south of the country, is optimal for providing this service.

“In the case of Iberdrola Australia, the storage systems provide backup capacity for its portfolio of energy sales contracts to customers”.

Iberdrola has two other BESS projects under construction in Australia, it added. It expects the 65-MW Smithfield project in New South Wales and the 180-MW Broadsound project, which is part of a 360-MW solar project in Queensland, to start operations 2025 and 2026 respectively.

Iberdrola already has two operational BESS projects in the country, according to an online directory of its Australian assets. Iberdrola has a 10-year dispatch control for TransGrid’s 50-MW Wallgrove Grid Battery, connected to the New South Wales transmission network. Meanwhile Iberdrola’s 25-MW Lake Bonney project is co-located with the Lake Bonney Wind Farms near Millicent in South Australia.

Additionally Iberdrola has three proposed BESS projects in Australia, according to the directory.

Burrenbring Battery is planned to have a capacity of one gigawatt with two to four hours duration. It is proposed to rise on privately owned land on the Widi People’s Country in the Isaac Region.

Mount Doran Battery is planned to have a capacity of 200 MW and two-hour storage. Iberdrola plans to connect the project to Australian Energy Operations’ existing Elaine Terminal Station. The project would rise on about 3.5 hectares of land in Moorabool Shire in Wadawurrung Country.

Kingswood Battery is planned to have 270 MW with four hours storage. It would be connected to TransGrid’s Tamworth Substation. It is planned to encompass eight hectares of land.

Iberdrola said, “The acquisition of the Tungkillo battery system is fully consistent with the Group’s recently presented 2025-28 plan, which foresees total investments of more than EUR 1 billion in Australia, a country with a AAA credit rating, mainly in battery development”.

Announcing the new investment plan of EUR 58 billion last month, Iberdrola said Australia and European Union markets except the Iberian Peninsula would get EUR 5 billion.

“This plan aims to transform Iberdrola’s profile into a more regulated company, with networks as a vector for growth”, executive chair Ignacio Galan said in an online statement September 24.

“We will invest EUR 58 billion by 2028, two-thirds of which will go to transmission and distribution networks, mainly in the United Kingdom and the United States”.

Sixty-five percent of the total investment will go to regulated networks.

Distribution has been earmarked EUR 25 billion. Transmission gets EUR 12 billion, 95 percent of which is meant for the UK and the US.

“Generation and customers” get EUR 21 billion, 75 percent of which comprises projects under construction. Of the EUR 21 billion, 38 percent is for offshore wind, 24 percent for onshore wind, 10 percent for solar and 10 percent for storage.

Geographically, the UK and the US lead with EUR 20 billion and EUR 16 billion respectively. Iberia gets EUR 9 billion and Brazil EUR 7 billion.

Eighty-five percent of total investments are meant for “A-rated countries with stable, predictable and attractive regulatory frameworks”, Iberdrola said.

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