AGL has secured planning approval from the New South Wales (NSW) government to develop a 500 MW / 2,000 MWh battery energy storage system, named the Tomago battery, near Newcastle on the Central Coast. The $1 billion (USD 650 million) project will be situated next to two Transgrid-owned substations within the Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone.
The NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure highlighted that the battery will facilitate the state's transition to renewable energy sources, enhance regional and statewide benefits, and improve energy security and reliability through frequency and system restart auxiliary services. Travis Hughes, AGL's General Manager of Power Development, noted that this approval is a significant milestone in AGL's broader renewable energy strategy.
AGL’s 500 MW, four-hour grid-scale battery, the Tomago project, has the potential to provide additional firming capacity for the company’s New South Wales (NSW) customers and contribute to AGL’s goal of adding 12 GW of renewables and firming to its portfolio by 2035. The project, estimated to cost $1.068 billion, is slated for a final investment decision in 2025, with construction expected to begin in 2026, creating around 200 jobs during the construction phase.
The Tomago battery is part of NSW’s expanding network of 57 large-scale batteries approved to aid the transition to clean energy. NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully emphasized the importance of battery energy storage systems in providing firming capacity, enhancing the reliability of the network, and supporting the shift to renewable energy sources.
This project will complement AGL’s existing grid-scale battery assets, including the 250 MW / 250 MWh Torrens Island battery in South Australia and the 50 MW / 50 MWh Broken Hill battery in western NSW, both operational since August 2023 and August 2024, respectively. Additionally, AGL is developing a 500 MW, two-hour duration battery at the former Liddell coal-fired power plant site in the NSW Hunter Valley, with operations set to commence in mid-2026.