5 MW Mobilong Solar Farm moves into construction phase

With all the permits now received and the project being shovel-ready, Balance Utility Solutions will immediately start work on the design and construction of the $8.5 million Mobilong Solar Farm.

The 5 MW Mobilong Solar Farm has been developed by Terregra Renewables, a subsidiary of the listed Indonesian company PT Terregra Asia Energy Tbk.

The project will feature about 16,100 PV modules and two containerized inverters. With around 40 jobs created during construction, work is pencilled in for completion in April or May 2019.

“Balance is delighted to be working with Terregra Renewables on the delivery of their first solar project in Australia,” said Rod Hayes, Managing Director of Balance Utility Solutions, noting that the two companies have developed a close working relationship through project development and now into delivery.

“We expect this approach of close developer and EPC early collaboration, and a focus on portfolios of smaller scale projects, to be a growing trend through the next few years as the utility scale solar market continues to mature.”

Indeed, according to the numbers tallied by the Clean Energy Council last month, Australia’s big PV is shattering all records with over 9 GW of large-scale projects under construction or soon to start, totaling an investment of over $11 billion.     

This has, meanwhile, resulting in fierce competition among EPCs, which claimed the scalp of one of Australia’s leading engineering and construction companies last November, RCR Tomlinson. An epilogue for the company’s solar ventures came earlier on Monday as administrators McGrathNicol confirmed RCR Tomlinson’s energy service business had been sold to The Environmental Group, while its solar business was being shut down. 

For Balance Utility Solutions, the most recent period has been very active. It has completed the first ground-mounted solar farm near Geraldton, in Western Australia, for the Department of Defence. A tender for the 1.2 MW solar system was called in October 2017, with the goal to reduce the Department’s Satellite Communications Station’s reliance on the main grid. 

On top of that, the EPC is currently building a number of projects including hybrid power systems in WA’s Midwest, an island in the Whitsundays and for a coconut processing facility in the Federated States of Micronesia.

With the Mobilong solar farm now in the construction phase, Terregra Renewables says it is also actively developing other solar projects in Australia, while in Indonesia the company plans to develop, build and operate more than 500 MW over the next five years.