Engie ANZ is gearing up for a proposed large-scale solar + battery project outside Yass in the Southern Tablelands region of New South Wales.
The Yass Tribune reports Engie ANZ has acquired the Yass solar farm project and secured leases for three adjoining properties, with plans to expand on the original concept.
What the original project was and which company it was acquired from isn’t clear. I’m guessing it was Tetris Energy’s proposed 80MW solar and 20MW battery facility that was to be built adjacent to one of NSW’s key transmission substations at Yass, not far from the outskirts of the town.
Engie aims for now what’s known as Yass Energy Park to be 139MW capacity, which the company states will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 51,000 average NSW homes. Engie says preliminary estimates peg the number of solar panels involved to be “up to 220,000”. The capacity of the battery energy storage system (BESS) isn’t noted. It’s intended agricultural activities will be able to continue alongside the operation of the facility.
Among the benefits for the Yass area community aside from supporting Australia’s transition to cleaner and cheaper energy will be local employment and contractor opportunities during construction and operation, and increased spending locally associated with this activity. There will also be a community benefits program created for local initiatives.
Engie is encouraging prospective suppliers and workers to register their interest in playing a role in the project.
Next Steps For Yass Energy Park
It’s still very early days, with no formal timeline as yet. Engie ANZ is to host community information sessions early in 2023; the details of which will be published online and in the local paper. There’s already a short online community feedback survey associated with the project
Along with results of various other local studies, this information will be considered in the concept design for Yass Energy Park.
This stage will be followed by scoping report lodgement, continued engagement and studies, Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) lodgement and exhibition, and all the other bits, nips and tucks associated with getting the green light for such a facility. Engie reportedly aims to seek development approval in 2024.
Solar Panels Popular In Yass
How the local community will react to the expanded Yass Energy Park project remains to be seen, but many of the town’s residents are already familiar with and benefiting from solar power.
In Yass, solar panels are just about everywhere you look on the rooftops of homes and businesses. More than 2,395 small-scale systems have been installed in the Yass postcode area as the end of October this year; with a collective capacity of an estimated 16,317 kW.
Yass already punches well above its weight on PV when it comes to small scale systems; i.e. those under 100kW capacity. With a population of 12,722 (Census 2021 – postcode 2582 ), the small scale capacity tally works out to 1,283 watts per person compared to a ~ 782 watts Australian average.
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The question should be is “How” Engie acquired the project and at what cost? Tetris Energy was reported by pv magazine on JANUARY 16, 2019 selling a SA solar project to Canadian Solar Inc, a company that has been under investigation for human rights violations and forced labor claims in its China manufacturing plants. Why would Yass Valley Council align itself with companies that deal with these sorts of companies, It goes against the councils’ vision and the entire message of sustainable development
Note it’s not Canadian Solar that that’s accused of using forced labour but GCL, which is a producer of solar wafers. If GCL was found to be using slaves and Canadian Solar didn’t immediately end all association with them, then I would definitely recommend not using Canadian Solar or any other solar panel manufacturer that did not stop using products produced by, or in part by, slaves.
As far as anyone can tell the partnership still exists and has been long-standing since 2014 and even as early as 2008.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canadian-solar-promises-belated-investigation-into-xinjiang-plant/
“Canadian Solar vows probe into allegations it used forced labour in Xinjiang plant” – The headline from The Globe And Mail
Now when Yass Valley Council and Tetris Energy started the Solar project the allegations were already under investigation.
My question is how and why didn’t Yass Valley Council know that these allegations were underway before allowing themselves to be associated with the companies? I even Sent an email to Yass Valley Council asking about this and with no comment to support there decision I’m left wondering.
So looking into more will have to do for now.
But to say “it’s not Canadian Solar” is false and incorrect.
I’m sorry. I jumped to the conclusion you were referring to the accusations made by the United States government. If there are other accusations I’m afraid I’m not currently aware of them. The link you kindly provided is paywalled so I can’t read it.
GCL has long standing relationships with many solar panel manufacturers as it’s the world’s second largest polysilicon manufacturer.
Sorry about the link being the way it is, more reason to create a platform that can be used to display free and open content without all the hoops to jump through to just read an article.
If you can help me out, do you have any links that you can supply about GCL,?
Is that where all solar panels are being made ?? Who is the largest supplier or exporter of solar panels?
I’ll also do some looking I’m my end as well.
Thank you very much.