Global investment manager Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners has officially confirmed the expansion of the ‘Supernode’ battery energy storage system (BESS) in Queensland, Australia, via a 1,010MWh offtake agreement with State-owned energy company Stanwell.
Although having previously been proposed, the signing of the Stage 3 offtake agreement with Stanwell now means the final stage of the project, featuring a 250MW 4-hour duration BESS, can now be officially developed.
Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis
- Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
- In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
- Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
- Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual
Or continue reading this article for free
This increases the Supernode BESS’s overall capacity to 750MW/2,540MWh, making it one of the largest batteries in the National Electricity Market (NEM). It is, however, trumped by a handful of larger systems, such as Origin Energy’s 2.8GWh Eraring BESS being developed in New South Wales.
The deal with Stanwell is subject to Quinbrook meeting certain conditions, such as a reaching financial close for the project by 30 September 2025.
David Scaysbrook, co-founder and managing partner of Quinbrook, said the deal with Stanwell represents a “sell-out” on the Supernode BESS, which is located at the “highly strategic” South Pine site.
“Construction for Stages 1 and 2 has already commenced in preparation for delivery of both of those initial stages under our previously announced offtake partnership with Origin Energy. Construction of Stage 3 will now head into accelerated planning, taking our total investment in Supernode to over AU$1.4 billion,” Scaysbrook said.
Quinbrook closed financing on the first stage of the Supernode project in April 2024. This stage comprises 250MW/500MWh of battery energy storage, with Australian utility company Origin Energy having been contracted as its exclusive off-taker.
In July, Quinbrook and Origin signed an agreement to encompass full capacity from the 250MW/1,000MWh stage two. BESS solutions provider GE Vernova has been tapped to provide the BESS for stages one and two of the project.
Since then, the company has secured AU$ 722 million (US$452 million) in debt financing for the first two stages of the Supernode project in January 2025. Several banks provided the financing, including Bank of America, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Deutsche Bank, Mizuho Bank, and MUFG Bank.
ACLE Services secures EPC contract for 120MWh BESS in Queensland, Australia
Australia-based engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm ACLE Services has won a contract to deliver a 60MW/120MWh 2-hour duration BESS at a 200MW solar PV power plant in Queensland.
ACLE Services will deliver the BESS at the already operational Blue Grass Solar Farm in the Western Downs region of Queensland, which is owned by Spanish solar PV developer X-Elio. According to our sister site PV Tech, the Blue Grass plant was the best-performing Australian utility-scale solar PV plant in 2024 in terms of AC capacity factor.
According to a LinkedIn post, ACLE will be involved in several aspects of the project, from civil engineering to electrical work.
Previous coverage by Energy-Storage.news revealed that X-Elio’s owner, Canadian asset manager Brookfield, intends to build a 148MW BESS across two stages. The first stage includes the 60MW BESS being delivered by ACLE Services. Details on the second stage have not been announced other than hopes that it will be completed by Q3 2026.
Brenton Moratto, co-founder and director of ACLE Services, said that the organisation hopes to achieve mechanical completion of the project in late 2025.
Blue Grass Solar Farm’s BESS will feature advanced inverters that enable grid-forming functions. These will enable it to perform essential grid services, including inertia and voltage support, which have traditionally been provided by centralised thermal power plants.
Grid-forming with advanced inverters is a big topic for the Australian battery storage market. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is providing funding support for a wave of large-scale BESS projects that include smart power electronics equipment, including new-build and retrofitting them to existing projects.
For X-Elio, it marks the company’s first hybrid solar-plus-storage plant that it will build in Australia, although it has others in its development pipeline. The developer is behind several new solar-plus-storage projects in the country, such as a proposed 2,880MWh BESS that will be encompassed in the North Burnett Renewable Energy Hub, located 140km southwest of Gladstone, Queensland.
ACLE Services, headquartered in Victoria, had been selected earlier this year to construct and provide the balance of plant (BoP) for the 130MWh Smithfield BESS in New South Wales owned by Spain-based utility and independent power producer (IPP) Iberdrola.
