2.5 GW Renewable Energy Hub Proposed In NSW, Australia

• Spark Infrastructure plans to develop a 2.5 GW Dinawan Renewable Energy Hub
• It wants to develop it within NSW's South-West Renewable Energy Zone
• Construction start is scheduled for 2024
• Comprising wind, solar and battery storage capacity, the project is aimed at contributing to offsetting impact of shuttering of coal fired stations in NSW

The New South Wales (NSW) state of Australia may have a 2.5 GW renewable energy hub coming up as Spark Infrastructure works to secure land to develop this capacity. The Dinawan Energy Hub (DEH) will be located in the South-West Renewable Energy Zone (REZ).

The DEH will be a hybrid wind, solar and battery storage project to be executed through Spark Infrastructure's wholly-owned subsidiary Spark Renewables. The company believes clean power from the facility will significantly offset the impact of coal fired power station closures in the Australian state.

According to the proposal put forth by the developer of 100 MW Bomen Solar Farm in NSW, Spark Infrastructure plans to locate it on the route of the Project EnergyConnect interconnector, an electricity transmission line, between Wagga Wagga in NSW and Robertstown in South Australia.

It wants to develop the DEH in 2 phases, expecting to take a financial investment decision (FID) for phase I with 1 GW capacity and AUD 1.8 billion ($1.3 billion) estimated capital expenditure. Phase I is expected to start construction in 2024, and first operations beginning in 2025. The otehr 1.5 GW capacity will form phase II with an estimated capital expenditure of AUD 2.45 billion ($1.8 billion), said the company that owns 15% stake in TransGrid of NSW and 49% in Victoria Power Networks and SA Power Networks.

Currently, the company is in the early stages of planning, and working to secure land to develop the project. About the proposed project, Managing Director of Spark Infrastructure Rick Francis said, "It will unlock significant renewable generation capacity consisting of wind, solar and battery energy storage across NSW in the coming years, providing resource diversity to renewable generation planned in the other REZ's."

It is also developing a 60 MW Bomen Energy Hub in NSW to exploit solar, storage and green hydrogen technologies.

NSW had previously stated it plans to set up 3 REZs eying 17.7 GW renewable energy capacity to be grid connected in the state as it moves towards achieving net zero emissions target for 2050. The state government received overwhelming response to its 3 GW Central-West Orana REZ pilot with total interest of 27 GW, followed by 8 GW New England REZ for which it opened registration of interest (ROI) in June 2021 (see NSW Scouring Interest For 8 GW New England REZ).