A Mount Isa solar and battery project in Queensland gets a builder
APA Group, an Australian energy infrastructure company, has signed the construction firm UGL to build a Mount Isa solar and battery project in Queensland called the Sybella Creek Solar Farm and Battery Energy Storage System. APA reached what the industry calls a final investment decision, the point where a company commits the money and sets a start date, on August 20, 2026, then named UGL as the contractor on September 14, 2026. UGL, a company owned by CIMIC Group, will design the plant, buy its equipment and physically build it. The solar farm will generate 72 megawatts, and the battery will store 104 megawatt hours while delivering up to 52 megawatts at once. APA says the total project will cost 259 million Australian dollars. Construction starts in late 2026 and finishes in mid 2028.
Why the Mount Isa region needs its own power plant
Mount Isa has no connection to the National Electricity Market, the shared grid that links most power plants and customers across Australia. Powerlink, the Queensland government owned company building the fix, calls it CopperString, a transmission line meant to connect North and North West Queensland, including Mount Isa, to that market for the first time. Its Eastern Link, about 350 kilometers of 330 kilovolt cable running from Reid River to Hughenden, targets completion in 2032, and only if the remaining approvals are reached by 2028. The Western Link, the half that would actually reach Mount Isa, has no completion date at all, only a start date for early site work in the 2026 to 2027 financial year. For APA Group, Sybella is not an addition to a normal grid connection. It is the answer to a wait with no announced end, paid for and owned by an energy company instead of a government transmission project.
The Sybella figure comes from source 3. The North West Energy Fund and Flinders Substation figures come from source 4.
Show the numbers
| North West Energy Fund | 200 |
| Flinders Substation | 225 |
| Sybella power plant | 259 |
What the deal covers
The Sybella deal rests on a single customer. APA signed an Energy Supply Agreement, a contract to sell everything the plant produces, to Ernest Henry Mining, a subsidiary of Evolution Mining, running until mid 2046. When the sun is down or the battery runs out, an existing gas fired plant, the Diamantina Power Facility, will keep supplying power instead. APA used the same pattern at its earlier Mount Isa project, the 88 megawatt Dugald River Solar Farm, completed in 2024. Dividing 104 megawatt hours of battery storage by its 52 megawatt power rating, a calculation neither company published, gives 2 hours, the length of time the battery can run at full power before it needs recharging.
The Dugald River figure comes from source 2. The 2 Sybella figures come from sources 1 and 3.
Show the numbers
| Dugald River solar, 2024 | 88 |
| Sybella solar, 2028 | 72 |
| Sybella battery, 2028 | 52 |
Who is building it, and why demand keeps growing
UGL will carry out the work under a contract known as engineering, procurement and construction, the type of deal where 1 firm designs, buys and builds a project rather than splitting the job among several contractors. The deal makes Sybella the 16th solar farm and the 12th battery storage project UGL has built or is building. Queensland has set a target of 4.4 gigawatts of new utility scale solar and wind by 2035, a goal that keeps contracts like this one coming.
We are proud to continue supporting clients with the delivery of critical energy infrastructure that will help power Australia's future.
Sam Goldsmith, managing director of UGL. Source 1.
So we are able to bring renewable power generation to the market with a battery and firmed by an existing facility.
Adam Watson, chief executive and managing director of APA Group. Source 2.