Positive Response To Aldoga Solar Farm Says Developer

A major solar power project to be constructed near Gladstone in Queensland seems to be getting the tick of approval from locals.

Back in April, we reported Acciona Energy had signed a 30 year lease with the Queensland Government for a site that will host a 265 megawattt solar farm. The facility will be constructed near Aldoga; approximately 20 kilometres from Gladstone.

Economic Development Queensland’s (EDQ) flagship renewable energy project, Aldoga Solar Farm will deliver the equivalent amount of energy needed to supply up to 122,000 households, which is around five times the number of households in Gladstone.

Several community information sessions were held last week and according to Acciona, response to the $500m project at this stage has been encouraging.

“It’s been very positive so far, and I’d like to think that’s because we try to pick up on issues along the way and address them,” said Acciona Energy’s Brett Wickham in comments to The Queensland Times.

Acciona is one of the 40-odd companies that has signed on to the recently launched Clean Energy Council Best Practice Charter for Renewable Energy Developments. The charter has a very strong focus on the quality of community engagement. It’s in the best interests of all concerned that processes are transparent as a lack of information and engagement can cause confusion and angst within local communities, and this can lead to costly delays.

Acciona Energy says it will adopt Buy Queensland and Gladstone Buy Local procurement policies for the Aldoga Solar Farm project, and up to 240 construction jobs will be created during construction. 5 – 10 full time positions will filled for ongoing operations of the plant.

The final application for the project is expected to be submitted at the end of this month assuming approvals are granted in a timely fashion, the construction process is expected to begin mid-late next year and take approximately 12 months.

Aldoga Solar Farm will be connected to the National Electricity Market (NEM) via a 3-4 kilometre overhead electrical transmission line extending from the site’s substation to the Powerlink Larcom Creek Station

Since setting up shop in Australia in 2002, Acciona says it has invested more than AUD$1 billion locally. The company employs more than 1,000 people in its renewable energy, infrastructure and water projects across the country.

Globally, the Spanish conglomerate has a presence in 65 countries and Acciona Energy operates almost 9,000 megawatts (MW) of its own wind, solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, hydroelectricity and biomass capacity. Additionally, it has developed 2,000MW of capacity for third parties.