A grid with no smokestacks: Octopus snaps up biggest battery project and solar hybrid in push to replace coal
Image: Blind Creek solar project
Giles Parkinson
Feb 5, 2026
BATTERY
SOLAR
STORAGE
UK-based Octopus Investments has struck deals for the purchase of two major battery projects in Australia, one a massive facility of up to 4.8 gigawatt hours in NSW, and the other a smaller solar-battery hybrid project in Queensland.
Octopus is buying the Hanworth battery project near Bannaby, west of Bowral, from development company Enervest, which at full scale will deliver 1.2 gigawatts (GW) and 4.8 gigawatt hours (GWh) of storage capacity. If built now it would rank as the biggest in the country.
It is also buying the Dunmore hybrid project in Queensland from Korean giant Samsung, which will combine a 300 megawatt (MW) solar farm paired with a 150 MW, 300 MWh battery. Together, the projects would represent investment of more than $3 billion once built.
“Australia still needs new power stations to replace ageing coal plants. The difference is that today we can build them using a mix of solar, wind and batteries instead of smokestacks,” Octopus Australia managing director Sam Reynolds said in a statement.
“By owning and operating our projects as one portfolio, we can deliver reliable power every day of the year – not just when the sun shines or the wind blows. This is about replacing coal with clean energy that works in the real world.”
Octopus is positioning itself as one of the most powerful clean energy investors in Australia, and already owns several operating assets, and with a host of new projects in developments, mostly involving storage.
more to follow
reneweconomy.com.au |
