A Victorian hybrid solar-plus-battery hub just hired its Stage 1 builder - Gamuda takes the Mortlake EPC
Yanara awarded Gamuda Australia the Stage 1 EPC for the Mortlake Energy Hub in southwest Victoria - an AU$790 million contract. The full hub targets 450 MW of solar with a 600 MW / 2,400 MWh battery across two stages. Stage 1 figures on the page do not line up cleanly on battery megawatt-hours; we will not invent a reconciliation.
A big Victorian solar-plus-battery build just moved from planning talk to a named builder and a dollar figure on the Stage 1 contract.
pv magazine Australia reports (29 Sep 2026) that Dutch developer Yanara awarded Gamuda Australia the engineering, procurement and construction contract for Stage 1 of the Mortlake Energy Hub in Victoria's southwest. The contract is AU$790 million (about USD 554 million on that page) for design, procurement, construction, installation, testing and commissioning. Gamuda also said it expects a separate operation and maintenance contract worth AU$45 million. The partners had already worked under an early contractor involvement arrangement.
The full Mortlake Energy Hub is described as 450 MW of solar with a 600 MW / 2,400 MWh battery energy storage system, built across two stages, connecting into Victoria's 500 kV network at the existing Mortlake Terminal Station. For Stage 1, Gamuda's statement on that page cites 435 MWp of solar and a 300 MW battery at about 4.5 hours duration - and the same report notes that battery energy figure does not reconcile cleanly with a 1,449 MWh contract disclosure, and that it rose from a prior 1,200 MWh Stage 1 figure. Early works were expected in the coming weeks from that report; main construction in November; energisation in April 2028; operations in the first quarter of 2029. The page's "homes powered" line is a utility-style equivalent, not a warehouse invoice.
Analogy: ordering the first warehouse wing before the whole campus is finished. You lock a builder and a Stage 1 price while the full site plan still names a larger solar field and a larger box for later stages.
Good: a published Stage 1 EPC dollar figure (AU$790 million), a named builder (Gamuda Australia), a published full-hub target (450 MW solar + 600 MW / 2,400 MWh battery), and a published connection point (Mortlake Terminal Station on the 500 kV network). A workplace buyer watching Victorian hybrid builds gets a concrete construction signal, not a brochure slogan.
Bad: this is a utility-scale hybrid project, not a mid-scale factory-roof voucher and not the 1 October SRES mid-scale certificate path. We will not invent your site's megawatts, your certificate discount, or a payback from Mortlake's Stage 1 price.
Ugly: Stage 1 battery megawatt-hours on the cited page conflict across Gamuda's duration language, the contract disclosure, and an earlier 1,200 MWh figure. Technology brands are not confirmed on that page. Commercial operation for the full hub is still years out on the published timetable. We will not invent a reconciled Stage 1 MWh number or a workplace payback.
Soft next step: if your Australia brief covers how a hybrid solar-plus-battery build at grid scale sits next to a workplace roof and a box, start with when your site uses power after noon - then a short consult at Sovryn Energy /consult if you want that shape read against your meter.
Source: pv magazine Australia, 29 Sep 2026 - Yanara taps Gamuda to deliver hybrid solar and battery project. Stage 1 EPC AU$790m; full hub 450 MW solar + 600 MW / 2,400 MWh BESS; Stage 1 solar/BESS figures and MWh conflict as reported. No site payback on that page.