Delivering Grid-Ready Battery Storage in Kiewa Valley

The Kiewa Valley Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) will contribute to Victoria’s electricity grid by storing renewable energy and supplying power when it's most needed.

Over time, it will also contribute to lowering energy costs for our communities by allowing greater solar and wind power integration. Beca and Trina collaborated to develop a 500 MW/1 GWh BESS solution that included a 330 kV transmission connection to the AusNet Dederang Terminal Station (DDTS). Because of the site's limitations — owing to agricultural, wildfire zones and pre-existing infrastructure — we devised a solution that met technical and legal criteria, laying the groundwork for future, risk-mitigated project stages.

Trina engaged Beca to develop a concept design that would allow early input and approval from AusNet for the transmission connection, network capacity availability and arrangement of the electrical balance of the plant, for the BESS to enable the development of preliminary equipment specifications. The output of our design informed key inputs into the Development Approval and Generator Performance Standards workstreams, two critical path activities in project development to secure an investment decision. Our understanding of the critical path drivers to support project business cases puts Beca in a strong position for future BESS and transmission projects.

A key challenge for this project was that the transmission route had to overcome several constraints, such as existing overhead transmission lines entering DDTS, private property and underground services.

Our proposed solution has to consider minimising impacts to:
 

• Operation and maintenance of the existing transmission line
• Clashes with underground services
• Vegetation clearing

In addition, our deep understanding of the Victorian transmission network and relationship with AusNet as one of their key delivery partners, allowed us to leverage the right information for Trina to develop a technically acceptable solution that balances cost versus performance. 

Beca’s reputation in the market and our relationship with AusNet gave Trina a competitive advantage. Technical due diligence early in the project development lifecycle is important to assess project viability before committing to significant development funding. Trina benefited from our experience and brought confidence to their project. They engaged Beca directly rather than through a competitive procurement process, as they recognised the value of our expertise and how this would translate to improving overall project outcomes from a time, cost and quality perspective; with the overall objective of early risk identification and mitigation.

Beca’s concept design has been used to inform the Development Approval submission by Trina as part of the required planning and approvals process, as well as enabling early-stage Generator Performance Standards studies to commence with the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), as part of the grid connection process.


Note: Example of a similar project using the Trina system (Photo provided by Trina Solar).