The project would connect via a 1.2km underground 330kV transmission line to Transgrid’s existing Kangaroo Valley Switching Station, with construction expected to take approximately 18 months and the battery designed to operate for up to 20 years.

Unlike many recent battery storage referrals in Australia, AGL has self-assessed the Kangaroo Valley project as a likely controlled action under the EPBC Act, meaning ministerial approval will be required before construction can proceed.

The referral identifies likely significant impacts on five matters of national environmental significance. This includes the critically endangered River-flat eucalypt forest ecological community and habitat for the Gang-gang Cockatoo, Glossy Black-Cockatoo, Grey-headed Flying-fox and Large-eared Pied Bat.

The project’s direct disturbance footprint of 41.11 hectares would clear 14.35 hectares of native vegetation, including 1.42 hectares of the River-flat eucalypt forest community and 0.13 hectares of Illawarra and south coast lowland forest and woodland, both of which are listed as critically endangered.

AGL said the site was selected in part because roughly 56% of the disturbance footprint comprises previously cleared agricultural land, and that the project design was refined iteratively to site infrastructure north of an existing transmission easement, avoiding a larger, higher-value patch of native vegetation to the south that connects to the Kangaroo River.

The referral notes AGL’s extensive prior history with the EPBC process, listing 20 previous referrals for AGL projects, including battery systems at Liddell, Tomago, Beresfield and Awaba, as well as gas and coal infrastructure dating back to 2000.

news , AGL separately submitted its 50MW/100MWh Awaba BESS on the NSW Central Coast for EPBC assessment in June 2026 , a project already holding state development consent and designed to connect directly into Ausgrid’s distribution network at Toronto.

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