Repurposing Coal Country: Octopus Australia Submits 2 GWh Blackstone BESS for Federal EPBC Approval

Queensland’s rapid emergence as Australia's premier utility-scale storage frontier has reached a defining milestone. Energy fund manager and developer Octopus Australia has formally referred the Blackstone Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) to the federal government for assessment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.

Proposed as a massive 500 MW / 2,000 MWh (2 GWh) standalone installation, the project is sited across a 7.25-hectare parcel in Swanbank within the City of Ipswich. Located within the historic Swanbank-New Chum industrial precinct—a district shaped by decades of underground and open-cut coal mining—the development sits directly adjacent to Powerlink Queensland’s critical Blackstone 275 kV substation.

With construction targeted to begin in November 2026 and commercial dispatch anticipated by early 2029, the project represents a pivotal deployment of 4-hour firming capacity within South-East Queensland's highest-load demand corridor.

⚡ Technical Architecture: Blackstone 2 GWh Project Specifications

The Blackstone facility is engineered to provide bulk 4-hour energy shifting, dynamic system strength, and high-speed synthetic inertia to stabilize the National Electricity Market (NEM) as Queensland’s coal generation fleet retires.

   ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
   │             BLACKSTONE BESS: TECHNICAL CORE            │
   ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
   │ • Nominal Inverter Output: 500 MW (Grid-Forming Capable)│
   │ • Continuous Energy Storage: 2,000 MWh (4-Hour Duration)│
   │ • Transmission Interconnect: 275 kV Direct Substation  │
   │ • Footprint: 7.25 Hectares (Former Mining Land)        │
   │ • Lifecycle Scope: 25-Year Operational Horizon (to 2054)│
   └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Blackstone Project Delivery Matrix

Project Metric	Engineering & Statutory Specification	Strategic Significance
Storage Capacity	500 MW / 2,000 MWh (2 GWh)	Delivers deep 4-hour evening firming for ~70,000 homes.
Network Voltage	275 kV Underground Feeder Tie-In	Direct high-voltage injection via Powerlink’s Blackstone Substation.
Technology Partners	Tesla Megapack (EPC / LTSA)	High-density modular storage governed by long-term service agreements.
Site Tenure & Zoning	7.25 ha (Swanbank-New Chum Precinct)	Industrial land repurposing former open-cut coal extraction zones.
Target Milestones	Construction: Nov 2026 | COD: Q1 2029	Synchronized with regional coal plant phase-outs.

🌿 The EPBC Regulatory Hurdle: Managing Ecological Interfaces in Industrial Zones

Even within brownfield, heavily industrialized mining corridors, federal environmental due diligence under the EPBC Act remains stringent.

The ecological assessment for Blackstone determined that construction will require clearing approximately 3.26 hectares of remnant vegetation that serves as potential foraging and transit habitat for the endangered koala (Phascolarctos cinereus). While targeted ecological field surveys recorded zero direct koala observations on site, Octopus Australia lodged the referral on a precautionary basis due to the documented regional decline of koala habitats across South-East Queensland.

This submission arrives amidst mounting industry scrutiny over federal approvals. The Clean Energy Investor Group (CEIG)—representing developers with over 46 GW in project pipelines—recently highlighted that delays in finalising National Environmental Standards, statutory offset calculators, and unified definitions of "nature positive net gain" under the Environment Protection Reform Act 2025 threaten to create administrative bottlenecks for multi-gigawatt clean energy deployment.

🏭 Swanbank: The Transformation into South-East Queensland’s Clean Energy Hub

The Blackstone development anchors a broader geographical shift transforming Ipswich’s historic coal heartland into a concentrated clean storage hub:

• CleanCo’s Swanbank BESS (250 MW / 500 MWh): Operational since February 2026, constructed directly on the footprint of the decommissioned Swanbank B coal-fired power station.

• ZEBRE’s Noblevale Battery (180 MW / 360 MWh): Separately referred for EPBC review by HD Renewable Energy and ZEN Energy, also tapping into the Blackstone 275 kV transmission backbone.

• Octopus Portfolio Synergy: Complements Octopus Australia’s 1.2 GW / 4.8 GWh Hanworth Battery in NSW, expanding the fund’s national storage pipeline beyond AU$16 billion.

Co-locating multi-gigawatt-hour assets near legacy switchyards eliminates the need for expensive greenfield transmission easements while tapping into high-fault-level grid connection nodes.

🚀 Protect Your Energy Investment with Independent Engineering Advisory

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