Lightsource bp to build 520 MW agrivoltaic project in Australia – EQ Mag Pro

The photo voltaic arm of oil main BP is proposing to build an agri voltaic project in the Upper Hunter area large enough to present 4% of New South Wales’ (NSW) electrical energy demand. The project will embrace 296 MW of storage capability.

Lighthouse bp’s 520 MWp Goulburn River Solar Farm with its 296 MWp battery power storage system, proposed by for a website in Merriwa, roughly midway between Newcastle and Dubbo, has progressed to the following phases of planning.

Last week, the Australian authorities posted the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) referral for the project, inviting the general public to remark till January 18. Formal planning functions following on from the corporate’s now-complete preliminary assessments, website design and neighborhood session are anticipated to be lodged mid-year.

The Goulburn River Solar Farm proposal at present entails a 520 MW (DC) photo voltaic farm (peaking at 588 MW) and a 296 MW/588 MWh battery power storage system (BESS). Few particulars of the battery are included in the general public referral, so the potential chemistry stays unclear, although the doc does element the system will probably be “housed in a series of outdoor containers”.

In whole, the photo voltaic farm will embrace round 950,000 bifacial photo voltaic panels anticipated to generate 992,000 MWh of electrical energy yearly, sufficient to provide roughly 4% of the state’s electrical energy demand, in accordance to lightsource bp.

The Goulburn River Solar Farm is to be constructed on greater than 1000 hectares of cleared freehold land beforehand used for grazing livestock. The website will probably be returned to this objective as soon as the photo voltaic panels, sitting about 5 meters above floor degree, have been put in. This will see round 1000 sheep grazing on the property, “managing” the grass, weeds and flowers under the sprawling agrivoltaic project.

Lightsource bp expects development to start by mid-2023.

The firm has already been in discussions with a lot of state authorities authorities, in addition to neighborhood stakeholders, holding a sequence of net occasions towards the top of final yr. In the referral the corporate says it is going to proceed to seek the advice of with residents and local people, holding in-person neighborhood periods (hopefully) in March and April this yr. “Following this engagement, we will conclude a range of detailed assessments, before undertaking the statutory pre submission consultation,” lightsource bp’s web site reads.

Lightsource bp is looking for to considerably ramp up its international photo voltaic portfolio, taking it from 4 GW to 25 GW in the following 4 years. The firm owns a lot of tasks in Australia, principally in NSW. Those embrace the 400 MW (DC) Wellington North photo voltaic farm on which development is quickly to start, the 200 MW (DC) Wellington photo voltaic farm which is at present in development, the 107 MW (DC) West Wyalong photo voltaic farm additionally in development, in addition to the 840 MW (DC) Sandy Creek photo voltaic farm, although this project is, like Goulburn River Solar Farm, nonetheless in early planning phases. Lightsource bp can also be at present setting up the 210 MW (DC) Woolooga photo voltaic farm in Queensland.