Another Step Forward For Geurie Solar Farm

New South Wales’ Western Regional Planning Panel has given its blessing – with conditions – to the development of a small solar farm incorporating battery storage in the Dubbo Regional Council area.

Earlier this year, ITP Development Pty Ltd lodged an application for a proposed 5MW (AC) solar farm to be constructed at a site near Geurie, a town around 28 kilometres from Dubbo.

The $8.6 million facility will consist of approximately 11,700 solar panels installed on trackers, two 3.4MW inverter stations and a battery energy storage system (capacity unknown). The site of the proposed development has frontage to The Old Road and the Mitchell Highway, and is located within an area mainly used for cropping and grazing.

Solar farm projects close to towns have often created friction within local communities, but in this case it looks like that has been avoided. While the proposed development is just 2.7 kilometres south east of the Geurie township and two dwellings are on land adjoining the site, no submissions were received after public notification.

Should the project go ahead after receiving all the necessary approvals, during the project’s envisaged three-month construction phase approximately 50 personnel will be on site. Once operational the site will be unmanned aside from maintenance and cleaning carried out by a small crew every 3 months or as required. It’s expected the solar farm will operate for 35 years.

Dubbo Regional Council has gotten behind the project and so has the Western Regional Planning Panel.

“The Panel determined to approve the application for the reasons outlined in the Council Assessment Report,” states the decision published on Monday.

The Council Assessment Report can be found here.

ITP’s Focus On Small Utility-Scale Solar

ACT-headquartered ITP Development has a bunch of other small-scale solar farm projects at various stages, among them:

• Mulwala Waters – 5MW (approved)
• Langs Crossing 1 & 2 – 5MW each (approved)
• Temora – 5MW (approved)
• Beroowa – 5MW (approved)
• Grenfell – 5MW (approved)
• West Wyalong – 5MW (under development)
• Daisy Hill 1 & 2 – 5MW each (approved)
• Orange – 5MW (approved)
• Burundulla 1 & 2 – 5MW each (approved)
• Wahroonga 5MW – (approved)
• Gilgandra – 5MW (under development)
• Little Bogan – 5MW (approved)
• Kootingal – 5MW (approved)
• Peterson’s – 5MW (approved)
• Gunnedah – 5MW (under development)
• Boggabri – 5MW (under development)
• Narrabri – 5MW (under development)

All of these projects are in New South Wales. One of the projects, Orange Community Renewable Energy Park (OCREP), is claimed to be the largest crowd- funded PV project incorporating batteries (5 MWh) in Australia. OCREP has also received a $3.5M grant from the New South Wales Government’s Regional Community Energy Fund.

ITP has a pretty impressive portfolio – but why the focus on 5MW? It’s likely in part to avoid red tape associated with regulation of larger electricity generation facilities. The approach can also help clear some of the hurdles associated with getting projects connected, potential curtailment issues and smaller solar farms are less likely to face community/council opposition.