Sunraysia Solar Farm 255 MWp Ground Breaking Ceremony
The 255 MWp Sunraysia Solar Farm is on track to be the largest solar farm in Australia this year. Between 350 – 400 people will be directly engaged by Decmil during the construction period with the accommodation camp running close to full occupancy as it continues to ramp up.
New South Wales – Maoneng Australia (Maoneng), John Laing (JL) and Decmil (ASX: DCG) hosted the ceremony on-site in Balranald, NSW with Morris Zhou, Ray Davy, Scott Criddle and Duncan Jewell initiating the public sod-turning for the solar farm.
The event was graced by a ‘Welcome to Country’ from the Muthi Muthi Nation Traditional Landowner Representative – Mary Pappin Senior, together with the Infrastructure Development Director of Balranald Shire Council Ray Davy.
Key Project Features
More than 755,000 solar panels (255MW DC) will be mounted onto Single Axis Tracking tubes.
More than 4,000 km of cables and 100,000 piles will be installed over a development footprint of up to 800 Hectares.
The solar farm is expected to generate approximately 529GWh of energy per year when commissioned; which is the equivalent to powering up to 50,000 households and offsetting approximately 430,000 tonnes of CO2.
The solar farm is connected to a 33/220kV substation co-located on-site where the energy is transferred to the Transgrid 220kV Balranald Substation. From there the energy is then transferred either towards Buronga/VIC or Darlington Point/NSW.
As part of the works, approximately 400km of new Dark Fibre will be installed between the Buronga and Darlington Point substations to improve communication and control of the solar farm.
What is next for Sunraysia?
Maoneng has made the public announcement of the development of the Sunraysia Emporium, a large-scale grid connected energy storage project adjacent to the Sunraysia Solar Farm.
“As a responsible renewable energy developer, we are cognisant of the impact which renewable energy has, both good and bad. To improve the reliability and to minimise both the technical and commercial impact of our developments moving forward, we aim to implement energy storage systems capable of time-shifting large amounts of energy throughout the day. Only by doing this, as a matter of best practice, will we be able to transition towards a 100% renewable energy future.” Said Qiao Nan Han, Vice President Maoneng Group.
Maoneng is now preparing the expansion of 500MW solar farm in addition to Sunraysia, to be commissioned in line with the proposed SA/NSW interconnector, together with additional energy storage.
“Sunraysia is strategically placed to service multiple states and territories given its proximity to the proposed interconnectors and the main charging route for the Snowy 2.0. AEMO’s ISP (Integrated System Plan) looks at various scenarios including the development of a large Renewable Energy Zone here at Balranald. We are excited to be part of this moving feast and welcome the challenges and responsibilities which come with these developments.” Said Qiao Nan Han.
Source: maoneng.co
