CEP.Energy, a privately owned "specialist renewable energy fund" chaired by former NSW Labor premier Morris Iemma, announced yesterday that it had signed a 30-year lease agreement with HEZ to build a grid-scale battery on the site, to be built in stages but ultimately capable of delivering 1200 megawatts - or 1.2 gigawatts - of power to the grid.

Federal Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor yesterday welcomed the proposal, but said it needed to reach "financial close", the benchmark the Morrison government has set in deciding whether its Snowy Hydro will build a gas-fired power station at the nearby Kurri smelter site.

CEP chief executive Peter Wright said the company aimed to become "the largest battery storage asset owner in the Australian energy market".

"To achieve this, we have secured strategic locations with excellent access to existing network connection infrastructure," Mr Wright, an internationally experienced infrastructure and funds specialist, said yesterday.

"The HEZ site for our NSW battery is zoned for heavy industrial use, pre-approved for power generation. Its proximity to the 330kva lines from the former Kurri smelter make it one the best sites in Australia for reliable and efficient grid connection."

Mr Wright said a likely first stage was about 400 megawatts and expressions of interest for a battery provider would be issued "soon".

Mr Wright would not put a price on the project but did not dispute widely quoted costings of about $2 million per megawatt, meaning even the first stage could have a potential cost of $800 million, although prices were falling and size bought economies of scale.

He said there was a world shortage of batteries and only a handful of manufacturers, but he was confident the battery farm could be up and running in 2023.

He said finance would not be a problem.

The CEP.Energy plan is the latest in a series of battery announcements, with the financial sector increasingly involved in the shift to a more renewably-powered energy grid.

Mr Iemma said the Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap published in November by the NSW government gave the market "the confidence to invest in renewable generation".

Mr Wright said CEP had been formed expressly to invest in renewable technologies and had recruited a team of industry executives including Mark Stedwell, formerly with the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).

Mr Wright said he and fellow CEP director Dr Henry Pinskier were the major shareholders, while Melbourne property firm Pelligra Group had a "significant minority" stake.

He said the Kurri battery - and three more at interstate sites owned by the Pelligra Grup - was part of a broader strategy that included large-scale industrial rooftop solar to help bring down energy costs for Australian businesses.

Mr Wright said CEP had looked at building at the Kurri smelter site being developed by Jeff McCloy and John Stevens, but had opted for HEZ.

He said a five-year lease with an option for another 20 hectares had been struck with HEZ's owner, Sydney accountant and businessman Frank Cavasinni.

Mr Cavasinni said he was "delighted to partner with CEP to host Australia's largest grid-scale battery and to install rooftop solar panels on all developments within HEZ".

But the HEZ site has had a long and controversial environmental history, and critics were quick to come out against the plan yesterday, despite the importance of batteries to a "green" power grid.

Former Cessnock councillor James Ryan - one of the key figures in the "fight for Mount Tomalpin", as it was dubbed at the time - said "battery storage is a great initiative to counter climate change and burning fossil fuels, but so is keeping our forests intact as carbon sinks and for bio-diversity".

"Mr Cavasinni bought it in 2012 in a fire-sale from the banks, and there's a long history of no-one wanting to locate there, because of the number of threatened species, both plants and wildlife," Mr Ryan said.

He said various projects had been proposed for HEZ, including an ammonium nitrate facility in 2014 and a Chinese-backed coal-fired power station in 2019 - but none had succeeded.

"Even Cessnock Council has recommended much of the industrial land in the HEZ be zoned for environmental protection in its latest local strategic planning agrement," Mr Ryan said.

Birdlife Australia also praised renewable energy but said the Tomalpin woodlands were key sites for two endangered birds - the Regent Honeyeater and the Swift Parrot - and the battery farm should go elsewhere.

Cessnock Mayor Bob Pynsent said he had no details on the proposal but said the council would support it on appropriately zoned land.

He said an Ausgrid substation and Ulrich Aluminium were the only buildings on HEZ, and the site was suffering from vandalism and "hoons in cars".

Mr Wright said he knew HEZ's history.

By MATT CARR

A PROJECT billed as the largest proposed grid-scale battery in the world will be built at Kurri Kurri, specialist renewable energy fund CEP Energy has announced.

The 1200-megawatt project is slated for the Hunter Economic Zone and comes under a 30-year lease agreement the company has struck with the Hunter Investment Corporation.

The proposal comes less than a month after Origin Energy unveiled plans for a 700-megawatt battery at the Eraring power station, which was at the time billed as the nation's largest.

CEP says the project will be the largest of four batteries in a network across the country expected to have a total capacity of 2000 megawatts.

Chief executive Peter Wright said the company wanted to become the largest battery owner in Australian energy.

"CEP's grid-scale battery network is part of our dual-track strategy to generate and store clean, reliable and cost-effective electricity for Australian businesses, and make excess power available to the national grid to firm up the increase in renewable generation," he said.

"To achieve this, we have secured strategic locations with excellent access to existing network connection infrastructure.

"The HEZ site for our NSW battery is zoned for heavy industrial use, pre-approved for power generation and located adjacent to an Ausgrid sub-station. It is among the best handful of sites in Australia for reliable and efficient grid connection."

The company expects to open an expression of interest process to find a battery provider, with the project expected to be completed in stages beginning in early 2022.

The company's chairman, former NSW premier Morris Iemma, said the state government's road map for clean energy had created certainty for private investment.

"Big batteries, including the one planned by CEP.Energy for the Hunter, will play a major role in filling the gaps left by the gradual retirement of coal and gas-fired generation assets, including the nearby Liddell power station," Mr Iemma said.

"This project will help ensure the Hunter region of NSW remains true to its heritage as one of the nation's energy powerhouses as we work towards a cleaner, decarbonised future."

Hunter Economic Zone and Hunter Investment Corporation director Frank Cavassini said the project would enhance the area's green credentials.

"HEZ is delighted to be partnering with CEP.Energy to host Australia's largest grid-scale battery and to install rooftop solar panels on all proposed developments within HEZ, which will provide our tenants with clean, lower-cost energy," Mr Cavassini said.

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