Myocum Solar Farm Hopefuls Shortlisted

New South Wales’ Byron Shire Council has chosen five companies to progress to the design and construction documentation stage of its proposed 5MW solar farm at Myocum.

The solar farm will be located on land owned by Byron Shire Council at 1 Dingo Lane, Myocum; situated adjacent to the Byron Resource Recovery Centre. The Dingo Lane Solar Farm project will assist Council in achieving its goals of net zero emissions by 2025 and 100% renewable energy for its operations (electricity consumption) by 2027. In fact, the project should provide a significant surplus on the electricity generation side of things, with the excess to raise revenue and potentially offset other emissions.

According to Council, its annual electricity consumption in 2018/19 was approximately 6.4 megawatt hours and Dingo Lane Solar Farm will generate approximately 11,460 megawatt hours of electricity annually. I previously mentioned Council’s output estimate seemed a little optimistic based on capacity, but an EOI document for the project noted “5MWac” – the “ac” bit is important and would bring it closer to the estimate; particularly if the solar panels are mounting on tracking systems.

The companies that have been selected to participate in the early contractor involvement are:

• Autonomous Energy Pty Ltd
• Todae Solar Pty Ltd
• Solgen Energy Pty Ltd
• Gildemeister LSG Pty Ltd
• Coolamon Energy Pty Ltd.

As well as its emissions reduction and electricity cost saving benefits, local employment will be a focus for the solar energy project.

“We’ve talked about the need to diversify beyond a dependency on tourism and hospitality, which we do very well, and as we start moving into the renewable energy space it gives us an opportunity to potentially help support that local industry, to add to their expertise,” said Mayor Simon Richardson.

The next step for the project will be the procurement process for specialist consultants to perform electricity grid modelling and prepare a development application (DA) for submission.

Community Involvement

Community feedback, a process that kicked off late last year, is also still being sought for the project; with view to incorporating elements into the design and construction documentation and having the feedback summarised in the DA. The development application process will also provide another opportunity for community feedback before a decision is made to progress further. The current community feedback period ends on May 18.

Not everyone is happy with the project – Echonetdaily reported last week a group of Coorabell residents are fighting the plans, based on the impact on views from the escarpment out over the hinterland.

A draft glare impact assessment report noted limited visibility of the Project site from the north, south and east due to the ridgelines blocking views from these directions. It was recommended vegetated landscape buffers be established along the Project site’s northern and western boundaries to mitigate glare potential affecting Dingo Lane; or screen planting within or immediately adjoining the Dingo Lane road reserve. However, none of this would address the group’s concerns.