First solar panels installed at White Rock Solar Farm

Developed by China’s Goldwind, the White Rock Solar Farm, located adjacent to White Rock Wind Farm, 20 km west of Glen Innes, has welcomed its first solar panels.

“Construction of the civil works on the boundary fence and access and internal roads has been completed and recent activity on site has seen significant progress in structural work on frames and pile installation,“ said Dan Ford, Goldwind Owner’s Representative for the project, adding that reaching this project milestone demonstrates construction is well underway.

The Chinese company, best known as one of the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturers, plans to invest a total of AU$ 41.4 million in the solar PV plant, which is designed to benefit significantly from sharing part of the 175 MW White Rock Wind Farm infrastructure, including the grid connection and access tracks.

In September 2016, the group secured a total of AU$6 million under the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) large scale renewable energy program for NWS’s White Rock Solar Farm, which was the 12th and final project in the funding round to achieve financial close among the solar PV plants. 

With UGL, a member of the CIMICGroup, providing EPC services on the project, the NSW solar farm is expected to host a total of 72,000. Once operational, the solar farm will have the capacity to generate electricity to supply the equivalent of approximately 7,200 average NSW homes.

This is Goldwind’s second wind-solar hybrid project in addition to the 10MW Gullen Solar project, co-located with the existing Gullen Range Wind Farm, in the Southern Tablelands of NSW.