Wednesday, September 30, 2026
FRV, the renewable energy developer that built the first large scale solar farm in Australia more than a decade ago, says it has reached another milestone with the completion of its first standalone battery storage project.
The company says that the 100 megawatt, two-hour Terang battery energy storage system (BESS) is ready to begin full operations in Victoria’s south-west, after successfully completing the commissioning process.
Renewable energy developer Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) announced the new milestone this week, 10 months after connecting the newly built battery to the grid near the small town of Terang.
The battery, although relatively modestly-sized by the standards of mammoth battery proposals today, is a milestone for the company and for Victoria: It’s the company’s first standalone battery, and is one of two in 2022 to be partly funded by the state to supply system strength to the grid.
FRV is a Spanish energy company that is now owned by Saudi and Canadian investment interests, and received $7 million from the Victorian government’s Energy Innovation Fund to build the Terang battery with grid forming inverters, along with the ground-breaking Koorangie battery in the north of the state.
“The commissioning of Terang marks a defining moment for FRV Australia,” said FRV Australia chief Michael Steiner in a statement.
“The project demonstrates our ability to develop and operate utility-scale dispatchable energy infrastructure that supports Australia’s energy transition. It provides critical firming capacity during peak hours while helping to strengthen grid reliability.”
FRV now has nine operational assets in Australia, which all bar Terang are solar or solar hybrids. It is also building one more bigger, standalone battery in Victoria, Gnawarre, which it plans to finish in 2027.
FRV built the 20 MW Royall solar farm in 2014, which was the first large scale solar farm to be connected to the National Electricity Market. There are now more than 120 grid-scale solar farms and more than 12,000 MW connected to the grid.
In 2024, FRV Australia switched on one of the country’s first true “hybrid” solar-battery projects in Dalby, Queensland.
The 2.45 MW solar farm and 2.54 MW, 5 megawatt-hour (MWh) battery project started in 2021, taking advantage of a proposed rule change that allowed different renewable energy generators and batteries to share a grid connection point – a first, at that time.
The company says it has “a pipeline” of standalone battery and solar hybrids under development in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.
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Rachel Williamson is a science and business journalist, who focuses on climate change-related health and environmental issues.
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