CleanPeak Energy, which is a distributed energy specialist and operates more than 50 sites around Australia, has made a final investment decision (FID) on the Wangaratta Solar Farm with construction of the $30 million-plus (USD 20 million) project expected to commence early next month.
CleanPeak founder and Chief Executive Officer Philip Graham confirmed the milestone on social media with the company indicating the project will form the backbone of its ambition to deliver 100% renewable energy to its customers by 2025.
“Delighted to announce we made FID on the 40 MW Wangaratta Solar Farm,” Graham said. “The Wangaratta City Council issued their Notice of Determination, CBA approved a construction facility and we are now contracting equipment and construction counterparties with a view to begin activity at the site in August.”
The solar plant, being developed on a 72-hectare site adjacent to an industrial estate on the outskirts of the regional Victorian town of Wangaratta, is expected to commence generation in late 2024.
It will be connected into AusNet Services’ 66 kV distribution network and will deliver about 70 GWh of clean energy into the Glenrowan substation.
Originally to be a 33 MWp facility, CleanPeak lodged an amended plan to increase the project size earlier this year. In addition to the solar asset, the project also includes scope for a 15 MWh battery energy storage system with CleanPeak indicating it plans to seek a grid connection for up to 65 MWh of battery energy storage at the site.
The progress on the Wangaratta Solar Farm, which CleanPeak acquired from original developer Countrywide Energy in 2020, marks further growth of the Sydney-based company’s growing ground-mounted solar portfolio.
CleanPeak, which has previously specialised in delivering rooftop renewable energy assets for the commercial and industrial sector, earlier this year acquired the 13 MW Mugga Lane Solar Park near Canberra.
The company’s rooftop assets include a 5 MW PV system at the Tonsley Innovation District in Adelaide, a suite of embedded network projects at shopping centres throughout Australia and late last year it signed a deal with biscuit manufacturer Arnott’s Group to provide 5.25 GWh of clean energy from solar panels and batteries at the biscuit manufacturer’s facility in western Sydney.
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.
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.