General News
24 October, 2023
Energy giant plans solar farm terminal station
AUSNET wants to build a renewable energy transfer station on land approved for a 200MW solar farm almost four years ago. The energy giant has told Campbells Forest landowners of the planning application that will be decided by the State Government...
AUSNET wants to build a renewable energy transfer station on land approved for a 200MW solar farm almost four years ago.
The energy giant has told Campbells Forest landowners of the planning application that will be decided by the State Government.
Loddon Shire issued a planning permit for the solar farm in early 2020 but the Government has since called in future approvals on projects bigger than 150MW.
Ausnet’s bid comes more than two years after South Energy had said it would start construction of the farm on Pyramid-Yarraberb Road.
A proposed solar farm at Derby was last November named after Sungrow Renewable Energy won a State Government auction under its Victorian Renewable Energy Target. Work was to start this year.
The Loddon’s first solar farm opened at Bridgewater in 2013. However, transmission status of the operation is unknown with the phone number disconnected and Ceramet Solar’s website removed.
The Campbells Forest Solar Farm has entered into a commercial agreement to design and construct the station and the lines that will connect the station to the transmission network
According to an AusNet spokesperson, the Campbells Forest planning application is to sub-divide land to develop a new terminal station.
“This new terminal station is required to connect the 200MW Campbells Forest Solar Farm to the National Electricity Market,” the spokesperson said. “The footprint of the sub-division area is 3.3 hectares.
“The Department of Transport and Planning asked AusNet to notify surrounding landholders of the application, which we did in mid-September.
“Landholders were advised in the letter to contact the AusNet representative if they wished to discuss the terminal station development.”
The spokesperson said construction of the terminal station to connect the Campbells Forest Solar Farm would be “determined in consultation with the developer to ensure it is operational in time to support the solar farm”.
South Energy told residents in December 2020 the project “is envisaged to commence construction in late 2021 and be fully operational by 2023”. However, the company’s website now says works were to have started last financial year and the solar farm operational by 2024-2025.
The Melbourne-based company had told residents: “South Energy is committed to providing support to the local community via benefit sharing programs that help address the region’s key social, economic and environmental needs. At this stage, there are no plans for community ownership, however, South Energy is committed to providing a community fund.”
South Energy was contacted for comment.