The NSW state government has granted conditional approval to another major solar farm at Moree in the north-west of the state.
ABC News reports the $180 million 60 megawatt facility will cover more than 160 hectares and will generate enough solar electricity to provide for the power needs of more than 10,000 homes. The area will host approximately 150,000 solar panels.
Power production of the Moree PV Solar Farm will avoid almost 75,000 tonnes of carbon dioixide emissions annually, the equivalent of removing approximately 15,000 cars from Australian roads each year.
The solar farm is an Infigen-Suntech Pty Limited project, a consortium comprising Infigen Energy and Suntech Power Holdings, manufacturers of Suntech solar panels. Infigen-Suntech Pty Limited says Moree is an attractive location as it has good solar resources and is close to network transmission infrastructure.
The consortium says the solar power facility will be a major boost to the Australian solar energy industry as it will provide local employment opportunities and also help to develop local and regional capabilities in solar farm construction.
Infigen-Suntech Pty Limited has stakes in other major Australian projects that will be carried out under Australia’s Solar Flagships Program; which aims to establish up to 1,000 megawatts of solar power generation capacity through major facilities.
In January this year, the New South Wales government gave the nod for a $300 million 100MW solar power station to be constructed by the group at Nyngan. Also in January, Infigen Energy gained approval for a 100 megawatt solar farm to be situated in Bungendore, next door to Infigen’s Capital Wind Farm – a 140.7MW installation consisting of 67 wind turbines.
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Solar farm opportunities in Australia
