UK solar developer Island Green Power has teamed up with local Australian renewable energy developer Overland Sun Farming to construct three large-scale solar projects in Victoria’s north, which together will total 320 megawatts.
Located in the north of Victoria, in the southeast of Australia, Island Green Power (IGP) and Overland Sun Farming (Overland) will construct three separate large-scale solar projects near the towns of Wemen, Yatpool, and Iraak. The three projects will total 320 megawatts (MW) together, and are expected to deliver enough clean electricity to power more than 600,000 homes.
The projects are currently listed as “Shovel ready” by IGP, and have been granted council approval, as well as agreements signed with Powercor Australia to connect each of the projects to the state electrical grid upon completion. Construction is expected to start soon, and will be completed within 12 months.
‘‘As the input prices fall and future energy and Large-scale Generation Certificates (LGC’s) prices continue to remain high, the conditions are in place for investment,” said Island Green Power managing director Ian Lawrie. “The Overland/IGP team has the experience in delivering utility-scale renewable energy projects from start to finish, which will finally realise Victoria’s potential.”
‘‘Solar is Australia’s next great energy opportunity,” added Brett Thomas, Overland’s managing director. “We could see that Victoria’s north-west region was a fantastic opportunity for solar farming — it has the best solar radiation in the state and there is plenty of clear flat land. Construction is set to get underway later this year.”
This is one of the first renewable energy development announcements to land in Australia this year, a year which the country’s Clean Energy Council is expecting to be a “huge year” for large-scale renewable energy development. Earlier this month the Council suggested that there is up to 2,250 MW worth of large-scale renewable energy under development, generating up to $5 billion in investments and almost 3,000 construction jobs this year alone.
Reports are also floating around that London-based solar developer Eco Energy World has plans to build a 280 MW solar farm in the north of the country, near Bouldercombe, Queensland. Construction is expected to start as early as the third quarter, and EEW chairman Svante Kumlin expects energy storage to be added to the project in its second phase, entirely replacing the need for fossil fuel energy generation.
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