Pine Lodge 250 MW / 590 MWh BESS Commissioning
- Client
- ACLE Services Pty Ltd
- Developer
- ACEnergy
- Location
- Pine Lodge, approximately 13 km east of Shepparton, Greater Shepparton, Victoria, VIC
- Grid Connection
- Pine Lodge Transmission Station
- Capacity
- 250 MW / 590 MWh (~2.4 hr duration)
- Voltage
- Up to 33 kV
- Battery OEM
- CATL
- PCS-side Switchgear
- ORMAZABAL medium voltage ring main units
- Site Size
- Approximately 10 hectares
- Asset Type
- To be confirmed with PM prior to publish
- Project Type
- Utility-scale BESS commissioning, including commissioning management
- Duration
- Commissioning Management Services plus full primary and secondary testing across PCS, kiosk, 33 kV switchboard, DC and AC distribution boards, ATS, harmonic filter panels, battery banks, BESS earthing, and complete BESS SCADA
- Megavar Scope
- Primary design support, secondary systems design and modification, relay logic and settings changes, HV withstand testing, functional testing, and commissioning sign-off
Overview
Pine Lodge BESS is a 250 MW / 590 MWh utility-scale battery energy storage facility on a 10 hectare site approximately 13 kilometres east of Shepparton in central north Victoria. It is one of the larger BESS projects currently in the final stages of commissioning in Australia and connects to the grid through the Pine Lodge Transmission Station.
The project was developed to ready-to-build by ACEnergy and subsequently transferred, with ACLE Services engaged as the EPC contractor. ACLE contracted Megavar to deliver both the Commissioning Management Services for the BESS and the full testing and commissioning scope. Running both under one Megavar engagement, rather than splitting the commissioning manager and the testing team across two contractors, removed a layer of coordination overhead on a programme that was already under time pressure.
The battery technology on site is supplied by CATL. The medium voltage Power Conversion System switchgear is ORMAZABAL ring main units, and the 33 kV switchboard is configured with a bus coupler tying the two sides of the switchboard together. The full Megavar scope covered everything from the PCS skids through to the BESS SCADA integration.
Scope of Work
- Commissioning Management Services for the BESS, covering programme management, subcontractor coordination, test sequence management, and client reporting
- Primary and secondary testing of the Power Conversion System (PCS) skids and associated ORMAZABAL medium voltage ring main units
- Primary and secondary testing of the BESS kiosks
- Primary and secondary testing of the 33 kV switchboard, including the bus coupler configuration
- Battery charging and battery bank discharge testing across the installed capacity
- DC distribution board testing
- AC distribution board testing, including Auto Transfer Switch (ATS) functional testing
- Harmonic filter panel secondary testing
- BESS earthing system testing, covering earth grid verification and compliance
- Complete BESS SCADA testing, including point-to-point verification, alarm and event propagation, remote control and indication
- On-site identification and resolution of IFC drawing discrepancies
- Relay configuration file corrections during testing
- Testing documentation, Inspection Test Records, and closeout package
Equipment
Commissioned
- 33 kV switchboard with bus coupler
- PCS skids with primary and secondary protection
- ORMAZABAL MV ring main units
- CATL battery containers and BMS
- BESS kiosks
- DC distribution boards
- AC distribution boards with ATS
- Harmonic filter panels
- Station earthing system
- BESS SCADA platform and control room
- Protection relay suite across all scopes
Megavar Test Equipment Deployed
- Omicron CMC 356 and CMC 500 protection relay test sets
- Omicron CPC 100 primary injection test set
- Megger MIT series insulation resistance testers
- Megger DLRO micro-ohmmeter
- Battery bank discharge test set (Torkel or equivalent)
- Earth testing equipment
AC HiPot test set - LV breaker test kit
- Standard commissioning tools for SCADA testing
Team: Megavar scaled to 9–10 testers at peak, with Commissioning Management Services running alongside T&C execution under a single project lead.
Challenges and Approach
Pine Lodge was a fast project on a compressed programme. The original target completion date of December 2025 was not achievable for a scope of this size, and the timeline pressure shaped everything that followed: the resource profile, the subcontractor coordination approach, and the quality assurance discipline.
The site environment itself was not helping. Shepparton in the back half of the year is warm and often dusty, and the BESS site sits on an exposed 10 hectare footprint with limited natural shelter for outdoor work. Equipment set-up, site housekeeping, and personal safety all had to account for an environment that tires people out faster and is harder on test gear than an indoor substation.
On top of the programme and environmental pressure, the project had the normal realities of a fast BESS build. IFC drawings contained discrepancies that only surfaced during physical testing. Some design details needed correction in the field. Relay configuration files shipped with settings that did not match what the commissioning sequence required.
Megavar’s response was to run both the Commissioning Management Services and the T&C delivery under one umbrella for ACLE. Resources were scaled to peak demand (9–10 testers) without compromising quality, and QHSE standards were held through the programme. Documentation was maintained in a tight daily loop, with ITRs, test records, and client comments turned around quickly.
The technical differentiator from the neighbouring Mornington BESS project sat in the 33 kV switchboard configuration. Pine Lodge uses an interconnected configuration with a bus coupler tying the two sides together — that changes how the commissioning sequence is built, and the testing has to prove the scheme works in all operating modes the bus coupler introduces.
Outcomes
Megavar scaled to the programme demand and delivered the Pine Lodge commissioning scope through to the final stages at time of writing, with Site Acceptance Testing near complete and SCADA testing in progress.
- Resources scaled to peak project demand (9–10 testers) without compromising commissioning quality
- QHSE standards maintained across all site activities through the full programme
- One-umbrella commissioning delivery model reduced coordination overhead between scopes
- IFC drawing discrepancies identified and resolved in a closed loop with the design team
- Relay configuration file corrections executed in-line with testing
- Documentation maintained and updated at pace with client comments
- Site Acceptance Testing near complete, energisation on track for 2026
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