Victorian solar farm starts commissioning process

Enel Green Power has announced that the last of almost 170,000 solar panels has been installed at the 93 MW Girgarre Solar Farm in central Victoria and the commissioning process has begun.

The $140 million (USD 92.4 million) solar farm, located about 50 kilometres west of Shepparton, is scheduled to commence operations in early 2025. The power plant is expected to produce about 200 GWh of energy per annum once fully operational.

The project is supported by a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with Japanese-owned electricity retailer SmartestEnergy which has confirmed the electricity from the solar project will go to its commercial and industrial customers.

Construction of the Girgarre Solar Farm was officially launched in September 2023 but was first announced earlier that year. Victoria-based Beon served as the EPC contractor for the project, while Longi provided the modules, Nextracker the trackers, and Ingeteam the inverters.

Enel Green Power Australia, owned by Italian utilities major Enel and Japanese oil and gas giant Inpex, entered the Australian market in 2017 and currently operates three solar farms, including Bungala One and Two projects in South Australia, which together have a capacity of 220 MW, and the small 27 MW Cohuna Solar Farm in Victoria.

It has also announced that it has received connection approval for a 96 MW solar farm and 20 MW battery in the central west of New South Wales and is also building the 76 MW Flat Rocks wind project in Western Australia.