The Victorian government has given BrightNight approval to begin development of the $700 million Mortlake Energy Hub, a hybrid solar and battery energy storage project.
Victorian energy minister Lily D’Ambrosio said on Thursday that the fast-tracked project is expected to create approximately 300 construction jobs.
According to its website, the energy hub is planned as a 360-megawatt solar energy farm with a 600-megawatt battery energy storage system.
It will connect to the Mortlake terminal station, and the connection “will be established through a substation equipped with transformers to the east of the existing terminal station.”
BrightNight was given approval to connect the site to the National Electricity Market in July this year.
The site will also feature “agrivoltaics”, with the solar farm combined with sheep grazing, which “maintains productive land and reduces vegetation management costs.”
According to D’Ambrosio, the hub “will soak up locally generated renewable energy and pump it back into the grid when it’s needed most to support Victorian homes and businesses with cheaper energy.”
Picture: credit BrightNight