Avonlie Solar Farm Application Approved

The Avonlie Solar Farm project in New South Wales recently received development approval from the state’s Department of Planning & Environment.

The proposed project’s location is approximately 20km south of Narrandera within the Narrandera Shire Council area on a 550 hectare site predominantly used for cropping purposes.

Among the reasons the site was chosen aside from its excellent solar resources was its close proximity to the grid transmission network and low environmental impacts, as the site has minimal tree and shrub coverage.

Developer RES Group says Avonlie Solar Farm will be up to 200MW capacity (approximately 670,000 solar panels) and will also feature energy storage, the capacity of which isn’t noted.

Approved on the 8th of August, it’s been a bit of a wait for RES, which submitted the development application and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to the Department in July last year. The project is considered a State Significant Development (SSD) due to its size and economic value.

According to the Notice of Decision, the project has the support of the Narrandera Shire Council, there were no residual concerns from NSW Government agencies and no submissions were received from the general public or special interest groups.

During the construction phase – an estimated 18 months – the $250 million project will support 200 direct and 320 indirect positions. 4 direct and 12 indirect jobs will be supported by the facility once it is operational.

Headquartered in the UK, RES Group has been on the Australian renewable energy scene since 2004. Globally, the company has  delivered more than 17 GW of renewable energy projects and supports an operational asset portfolio of more than 5GW. Here in Australia, the company was a founding signatory of the Clean Energy Council’s Best Practice Charter for Renewable Energy Developments.

More Big Solar For Narrandera Shire

Avonlie won’t be far from another proposed major solar energy facility – Esco Pacific’s 100MWac Sandigo Solar Farm, the development application for which was approved in July last year. Another facility for the area with approval is Yarrabee Solar. The first phase of Yarrabee is planned to have a capacity of 300MWac.

The addition of these solar farms will provide a big lift to Narrandera Shire Council area’s total solar power capacity. According to the Australian Photovoltaic Institute (APVI), as at June this year there was approximately 5MW of solar installed across the LGA, with close to half that (2,223 kW) home solar sized installations (<10kW), 977kW of small-scale commercial solar (10kW – 100kW) and just one system over 100kW capacity (1,211kW).