Octopus Australia proposes massive battery project amid European grid concerns

Octopus Australia, a subsidiary of the British Octopus Group, has initiated environmental and planning assessments for the Hanworth project. If completed, the 1.2 GW / 4.8 GWh facility would be Australia’s largest battery project. The installation will utilize lithium iron phosphate (LFP) technology and include 708 battery containers located in the Southern Highlands region near the Bannaby substations.

In Spain, the rapid expansion of data centers in Aragón is facing significant infrastructure challenges. Current projects with granted grid access require 3,600 MW of electricity, which is more than double the region’s peak demand of 1,700 MW. Meeting this demand would require a massive increase in solar and wind capacity, potentially saturating the territory with renewable installations. Nationally, granted access rights for data centers exceed 12 GW, triple the target set by Spain’s Artificial Intelligence Strategy for 2030.