Spanish-Japanese renewable energy company Univergy has announced that it will begin construction, with its Australian partner New Energy Developments, of the agrivoltaic 120 MW Wallaroo Solar Farm in New South Wales (NSW) this year.
The project on the NSW and Australian Capital Territory (ACT) border will likely commence construction in summer with the installation of 260,936 panels at 460 Wp each, an onsite substation and a battery storage system. The panels will be positioned on single axis tracking structures and will generate around 260,000 MWh of solar energy annually.
Key to the $170m project is its agrivoltaic symbiosis. The 163 hectare property currently works as a sheep farm, and will continue to do so once the solar array is erected. The symbiotic relationship between solar panels and vegetation meaning that the sheep will have more to chew on than ever before. With the panels situated at a maximum elevation of 2.3m and with 5m between each row there is more than enough space for the sheep to graze.
UP Initiative focuses on agrivoltaics
In Q1 2021, pv magazine’s UP initiative will shine a spotlight on agrivoltaics – the combination of agriculture and solar energy – in recognition of this emerging market. The goal is to understand the potential benefits, and economic, political and technical challenges of such an innovative partnership. Make sure you stay informed!
Moreover, the site’s is proposed to feature approximately 22,000 permanent native plants, including six species to provide ground cover and 19 species to provide a vegetation screen which will also double as a bee haven. Native species like the Fan Flower, Grevillea, Goodenia, Jug Flower and Native Daisy are all great attractors of bees, birds, butterflies and other species. The plants themselves also ensure the site will require a minimum of maintenance thanks to the better drainage from deep native rooted plants.
Univergy Solar’s Executive President ,Ignacio Blanco, said “Australia is a market with enormous potential for the development clean energy, which makes it a strategic country for Univergy. The development of this first 120 MW park together with our partner New Energy Developments , has improved our know-how in this market and we are confident of being able to expand our presence in the country through the development of future projects.”
In a statement to local residents, New Energy Development (NED) provided an update on what they described as a 100 MW development capable of producing clean renewable energy for approximately 48,000 NSW and ACT homes annually for the next three decades. NED also informed locals that they would be able to purchase said green energy at a discounted rate through the Localvolts Electricity Exchange, a peer-to-peer platform for the buying and selling of energy.
At this stage NED is currently preparing the project’s environment impact statement (EIS) and is seeking NSW State Significant Development status.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
1 comment
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.