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REZ Project Watch
Australia · NSW deep dive
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Demo seed — verify before use. This dashboard distinguishes between declared REZs, proposed or candidate REZs, access-rights projects, planning-portal projects, priority-list projects and offshore wind declared areas. Status does not imply final approval unless confirmed by the relevant authority.
Data currency: 2026-05-18 · 59 of 67 projects verified at confidence ≥ 70/100
Verified URLs span NSW Planning Portal, IPC, DCCEEW EPBC, proponent project sites.
NSW deep dive › Central-West Orana REZ › Cobbora Battery Energy Storage System

Cobbora Battery Energy Storage System

Pacific Partnerships
BESSEIS preparationConfidence: High
Capacity and technology
Technology
BESS
Capacity (MW)
400 MW
Storage
1.60 GWh
Estimated capex, local spend and peak workforce
Total development cost
~$1.12B benchmark estimate
1600 MWh × $0.7M/MWh (BESS)
Industry benchmark only — not project-specific. Sources: Clean Energy Council, BloombergNEF 2024 Australian utility-scale LCOE inputs, AEMO ISP 2024 cost assumptions. Actual capex varies materially by site, OEM, supply chain and grid-connection works.
Estimated local / regional spend
~$246M benchmark estimate
22% of capex — Clean Energy Council benchmark for renewable energy construction in regional Australia. Actual local content varies by project siting, procurement strategy and any access-scheme local-content conditions.
Estimated peak construction workforce
~640 roles benchmark estimate
Industry benchmark: ~0.7 FTE/MW wind, 0.5 FTE/MW solar, 0.4 FTE/MWh BESS, 1.5 FTE/MW pumped hydro. Peak during civil/electrical phase only — operations workforce is typically ~5-10% of construction peak.
Workforce breakdown — sector mix and phasing

Sector mix and phase distribution for the estimated construction workforce. Basis: industry norm (Clean Energy Council, ARENA, AEMO ISP 2024 + comparable EIS Social Impact Assessments). Numbers are decision-support indicators, not a project-specific forecast.

By service sector / industry (peak year)
Civil / earthworks
~96 FTE
Electrical trades
~288 FTE
Mechanical / structural
~96 FTE
Plant operators
~32 FTE
PM / engineering / env
~64 FTE
Logistics / admin
~64 FTE
By phase (across construction window)
PhaseFTEWhat's happening
Mobilisation + civils (year 1)
~384
Site prep, access roads, foundations, early electrical. Civil trades dominant.
Peak construction (year 2)
~640
All trades concurrent. Turbine / panel delivery, electrical install, commissioning prep.
Commissioning / demob (year 3)
~448
Specialist electrical and testing. Civil and structural ramping down.
Operations (ongoing)
~45
Permanent O&M workforce — typically 5–10% of construction peak. Plus periodic major-maintenance windows.

Sector mix from CEC, ARENA and AEMO ISP workforce profiles for utility-scale Australian builds. Phase distribution from comparable EIS Social Impact Assessments. Indicative only — actual workforce varies with OEM, contractor strategy, weather and OSOM scheduling.

Approvals and access rights
Project status
EIS preparation
Planning status
Assessed as part of Cobbora Solar Farm SSD
Access right status
awarded — CWO REZ access scheme
EPBC status
unknown
Grid connection
in CWO REZ access scheme network design
Financial close
not at financial close
Construction start
2027
Operations start
2030
Location
LGA
Warrumbungle Shire
Region
Central West NSW
REZ
Central-West Orana REZ
REZ relationship
inside declared REZ
Coordinates
-32.05, 149.27 (approximate)
Project documents — EIS, SEARs, proponent pages

Direct links to public documents and pages for this project. Phase 2 ingestion will pull updates automatically; Sprint 0 entries are verified manually with a confidence score per record.

Notes

400 MW × 4 hours = 1,600 MWh. Co-located with Cobbora Solar.

Source confidence: 78/100
Last verified: 2026-05-13
Every material fact on this page is sourced. A "View source" link is provided per source below.
Source evidence
Confidence: High
  • primaryNSW Planning Portal — Major Projects
    View source ↗
    Authoritative for NSW SSD and SSI planning status. Hosts each project's Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), SEARs, response to submissions, and other planning documents. Outranks proponent and media reports for planning_status. Per-project EIS and SSD page URLs are tracked under each project's project_documents.
  • secondaryProponent project websites
    View source ↗
    Proponent-supplied content from each project's dedicated page on the proponent's website. Useful for technology, capacity intent, community engagement messaging, project newsletters, fact sheets and timeline updates. Cannot override official planning_status or epbc_status. Per-project page URLs are tracked under each project's project_documents.
Open questions
  • Planning status against the NSW Planning Portal — verify SSD reference.
  • EPBC referral status — verify against DCCEEW public notices.
  • Storage MWh and voltage figures — confirm from proponent documents and AEMO Generation Information.
  • Workforce and accommodation commitments — confirm in SSD documentation or VPA.
  • First Nations engagement reporting — confirm in IEP / cultural heritage chapter.
See this project in context
REZ workspace
Central-West Orana REZ
All projects, pressure bands and shared-value commitments for this REZ
LGA detail
Warrumbungle Shire
7 projects · everything affecting this council area
Workforce + supply ratio
Demand vs ABS baseline
How this REZ's peak compares to existing regional workforce
Regional spend
Annual flow by year
This project's share of the year-by-year capex flow into regional NSW
Project timeline
Gantt by REZ
Visual overlap with neighbouring projects' construction windows
Cross-sector pressures
Non-REZ competing demand
What else is being built in the region in the same window
Upcoming decisions
5 relevant to this project or REZ
IPC meetings, EIS exhibitions, council determinations