The State Electricity Commission (SEC), a state-owned energy company in Victoria, Australia, has confirmed that construction has started on the 200MWh SEC Renewable Energy Park.
The project, which will see a 100MW/200MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) co-located with a 119MW solar PV power plant, will be built in two stages with the support of developer OX2.
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As reported previously by Energy-Storage.news, energy storage system integrator Energy Vault will supply the BESS. The system will be built using the company’s X-Vault integration platform and its UL9540 and AS3000-certified B-VAULT integrated BESS enclosures.
Energy Vault, which also provides a proprietary gravity energy storage technology, has been employed by several developers for energy storage sites in Australia. This includes Acen Australia, which confirmed that Energy Vault would provide a 400MWh BESS for the New England project in New South Wales.
Speaking previously on the SEC Renewable Energy Park, Energy Vault’s chairman and CEO, Robert Piconi, said the partnership is “well-aligned” with the company’s mission to accelerate the clean energy transition.
The SEC Renewable Energy Park will be Victoria’s first 100% publicly owned utility-scale renewable energy project. It is estimated to cost around AU$370 million (US$240 million) to develop fully and is being constructed around 300km northwest of the state capital, Melbourne, in Horsham.
In a LinkedIn post, the SEC confirmed that work has started on installing the solar PV, with pre-construction having commenced in February. The site is expected to be fully operational in 2027.
Victoria deemed ‘Australia’s home for utility-scale energy storage’
The SEC Renewable Energy Park is not the only utility-scale renewable energy project the SEC is pursuing. The organisation is also behind the Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub, with the complex looking to combine a 12.5MW solar PV power plant with a 1,200MW/2,400MWh 2-hour duration BESS.
Construction on the hub started in early September 2024, with the first 444 Tesla Megapack battery components having been installed. It is hoped the project will be fully operational in 2025.
Speaking at Energy Storage Summit Australia 2025 in Sydney last month, Vanya Kumar, executive director of innovation, commercial and investment attraction, and energy for the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, said the SEC is one of the organisation’s helping to make Victoria “Australia’s home for utility-scale energy storage.”
“The SEC is investing an initial AU$1 billion towards delivering 4.5GW of new renewable energy generation and storage. The SEC is working with industry to identify projects that will deliver renewable energy jobs, address system gaps and build confidence,” Kumar said.
Although the SEC is behind several of the largest BESS projects in the state, it is not the only one. For instance, the 450MWh Victorian Big Battery, which is already operational, was developed by French independent power producer (IPP) Neoen.
However, the battery was sold to ASX-listed alternative asset manager HMC Capital as one of the casualties of Brookfield, a Canadian asset manager’s takeover of Neoen, which was contested by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
Kumar added that Victoria has 12 large-scale utility-scale energy storage systems already commissioned, with a total output capacity of 750MW and over 1,000MWh of capacity commissioned.
