Brandy Hill Energy Storage Project
A new energy storage project in Australia
Project Summary
RES Australia is proposing to develop an Energy Storage development adjacent to the existing Brandy Hill Substation on Clarence Town Road, approximately 2km south-west of Seaham and 5km north-east of Brandy Hill.
The Brandy Hill Energy Storage development will fit within the current strategic direction of the NSW and Australian energy generation market and assist in achieving the planned transition to an increased contribution of renewable energy to Australia's energy needs.
In 2022, RES started consultation with local community to introduce the project and seek to understand the impacts and opportunities that may flow from a significant battery project in the region. In 2023, RES continued local community outreach for feedback and shared updates on biodiversity compliance, layout design and the ongoing technical assessments. These technical studies will report impacts surrounding water, traffic and transport, cultural heritage, hazard, visual, ecology, noise, and social impact, and assess mitigation and management strategies.
A third round of community information sessions and consultation will take place in Seaham in 2024, to share results and gain further community input.
The project will consist of:
- Battery Energy Storage units to store energy – they look like shipping containers
- Power Conversion Units that convert the Direct Current (DC) used to deliver electrical energy to and from the batteries into Alternating Current (AC) used to deliver electrical energy to and from the electricity grid
- AC electrical and control equipment to interconnect multiple Battery Energy Storage units onto the network
- AC electrical switchgear and control, protection, and metering equipment (including a transformer) to ensure the safe operation and to connect to the National Electricity Network Communications equipment. This will allow the project to integrate effectively into the broader electricity network
- Operation & Maintenance facility
RES is currently investigating:
- How the project design will address visual impacts
- The type of battery technology
- The ultimate size, colour and arrangement of modular battery storage containers
- How water flows over the project site
- The cultural significance of the project site
- How the project will manage fire risk
- The ecological biodiversity of the project site and surrounds
- The perception of renewables and development generally in the region
- The social impacts of the project, and how the project can minimize these impacts
- How the project could provide meaningful benefit to impacted stakeholders and the community
- The noise profile of the proposed project