Green Leap lodges plans for Gunnedah East Battery Energy Storage System

Renewable Energy company Green Leap Pty Ltd has lodged a proposal with the state planning authority to develop, construct, and operate the Gunnedah East Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) located at 6596 Oxley Highway, near the town of Carroll.

According to the developer's scoping report, the Gunnedah East BESS will include lithium batteries with the capacity to hold up to 120 MW (megawatts), and four hours of storage.

The site infrastructure will include an onsite substation, control room, and a transmission line, either above or below ground, to connect to Gunnedah's existing substation.

If the project is given the go ahead, the BESS will be in operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the next 30 years.

It would "improve the reliability and security of the state and national electricity network," the report states.

At the end of the BESS's life, the site would be decommissioned and returned to pre-development condition for rural land use.

But the project does have some drawbacks, mainly the site location on the Upper Namoi River floodplain and the presence of threatened or endangered fauna.

The report states the BESS's electrical infrastructure is "flood sensitive".

"Due to the close proximity of the Namoi River and the site forming part of the river's floodplain, preliminary flood modelling was undertaken to identify flood risks," the report states.

"The modelling informed the decision to relocate the BESS, ancillary infrastructure and on-site substation eastward within lot 6 away from Bennies Road to a location where there was a lower flood hazard."

The report found that flood mitigation is "achievable for the site" through a range of different design strategies.

These include the construction of the BESS on top of a solid earth pad with an elevation greater than the flood level; the building of an earth bund on or around certain locations to protect the development; or raising the BESS on a grid of piles to protect the site from flooding.

An earth bund is dirt that is a sloped embankment designed to withhold water and prevent flooding.

Further flood modelling will be undertaken once an Environmental Impact Statement has begun.

Another concern raised in the report is the number of protected, endangered or threatened animal species in the area, including the little eagle, silver perch, and the eel-tailed catfish.

"The construction activity could lead to water quality impacts on freshwater fish communities and threatened fish species," the report states.

Measures would be implemented during construction to limit or reduce the impact on the waterway's ecosystems.

The development would not break ground until the latter half of 2025.