In late 2021 BGEA approached an international Company that had built and operated two big battery Projects in the Eastern States and encouraged them to consider a similar project in the Bunbury Geographe Region.
Following a period of investigation, Kemerton was identified as a very prospective location given the presence of large industry, close connection to the SWIS and grid reliability issues.
BGEA supported an application to the State Government to locate a 200 – 400MW battery within the Kemerton Strategic Industrial area at a cost of circa $300 million. The 5ha site was chosen because of its close location to the main transformer which is a key requirement of Project viability.
Unfortunately, the State Government determined that the big battery was not a compatible land use for heavy industrial land.
BGEA was very disappointed with this interpretation even though we support the Governments general assertion that the industrial core should be reserved for heavy industries. BGEA believe the distinction in this case is that the battery is actually a critical piece of power supply infrastructure to service the KSIA. Without such infrastructure no heavy industry can exist in the KSIA.
BGEA continues to engage all levels of Government on this opportunity and is hopeful of a sensible outcome.
In the meantime, a similar opportunity has been identified for Collie and the Project is progressing through final approvals which is a great outcome for the Region.