Sandy Creek Solar Farm Development Application Lodged

BayWa r.e. is keen to build a solar farm near Wagga Wagga in the Riverina region of New South Wales, between the small town of Uranquinty and Kapooka Army Base.

BayWa r.e. Projects Australia Pty Ltd, which is a subsidiary of Germany’s BayWa r.e. renewable energy GmbH, scored the Sandy Creek Solar Farm project when it acquired the assets and project development pipeline of Future Energy Pty Ltd in October 2017.

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Correction January 19, 2022:  I’ve been informed by BayWa that Sandy Creek was not a Future Energy project. The company only identified this project in 2019.

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The proposed site is approximately 2 kilometres north of Uranquinty, which has a population of around 900, and 10 kilometres from the city of Wagga Wagga. The Uranquinty Power Station (UPS), which is a is a 640-megawatt natural gas-fired power station owned by Origin Energy, is located approximately 2.8km west of the subject site.

According to the project’s Statement of Environmental Effects, the privately owned land on which Sandy Creek Solar Farm will be built is currently used for cattle grazing and small-scale cropping, but BayWa says livestock grazing around the solar farm and within it, where possible, would continue.

The subject land has an area of approximately 206 hectares and the proposed development would comprise an area of approximately 42 hectares, in the north-eastern portion.

The 17 MWp DC / 12 MW AC facility will consist of approximately 40,000 solar modules (JA Solar panels mentioned) mounted on single axis trackers, four containerised power stations (SMA mentioned) and associated infrastructure. Connection to the mains grid would be via  an existing 22 kV powerline along the Olympic Highway through a proposed switching station on the eastern side of the development site.

BayWa says Sandy Creek Solar Farm would generate approximately 32,000 MWh of renewable electricity per year, enough to service the equivalent of around 7,500 households. Its operation would avoid around 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, but BayWa bases that figure on replacing brown coal, which has higher emissions than black coal. There are no brown coal fired electricity stations in New South Wales.

Construction time for the $19 million project is estimated at 9 months and the facility would be operating for up to 50 years. Sandy Creek Solar Farm is expected to require approximately 40 workers during peak construction period, but will only need one full-time equivalent worker during operation.

City of Wagga eServices shows a development application was lodged on October 15 and Council is currently awaiting further information from BayWA.

Australia A Key Market For BayWa

BayWa is no stranger to renewables. Formed in 2009 from multiple renewable energy companies, it has brought more than 3.5 GW of wind, solar power and bioenergy projects online and manages 8.5 GW of renewable assets around the world. In terms of solar energy specifically, it has delivered 625 projects with a collective capacity of 1,600MW, and manages 3,433MW of PV projects globally.

Australia is considered a key market for BayWa and among its projects here is the 112MW Karadoc Solar Farm in Victoria, which boasts 330,000 solar panels. A major customer for Karadoc is Carlton & United Breweries, which signed a 12-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for 74,000MWh of electricity per year.

A “sister” solar farm, BayWa’s 106MW Yatpool project, is situated 20 kilometres from Karadoc.