Stanwell Corporation subsidiary Stanwell Asset Maintenance Company (Samco) has landed its first solar operations and maintenance (O&M) contract, signing a five-year contract for the Collinsville Solar Farm owned by Thailand-headquartered developer Ratch-Australia.
Samco will provide O&M services for the 42.5 MW facility located in central Queensland adjacent to the decommissioned Collinsville coal-fired power station.
Samco was launched in late 2023 to provide maintenance and asset management services across all renewable energy assets, as well as create new training and job opportunities in renewables for its workforce as the state’s energy sector transitions to 80% renewables by 2035.
Stanwell Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Rourke said partnering with renewable energy companies like Ratch-Australia is critical to building renewable energy service capabilities and delivering on the company’s strategy to provide future job pathways for their people.
“It also supports the Queensland government’s Energy and Jobs Plan and the Job Security Guarantee,” O’Rourke said.
“Stanwell has one of the most reliable and safest generation portfolios in the country and our highly skilled workforce is looking forward to using our proven systems and skills to support Samco in delivering world-class asset maintenance services to our partners and our own growing portfolio of renewable energy projects.”
Image: Stanwell Asset Maintenance Company
The Ratch-Australia contract will also provide several renewable energy work experience opportunities through Stanwell’s development pathways program, plus subcontracting opportunities for local small businesses.
O’Rourke said one of the key objectives with Samco is to spark future pathways for Queensland energy workers and for the development pathways program to give Stanwell’s people the opportunity to apply the skills developed working on complex thermal power stations to renewable technologies.
Samco staff will manage Collinsville solar farm’s electricity operations, scheduled inspections, maintenance and repairs to all the 180,000 panels, inverters and high-voltage systems, routine cleaning of the panels to maximise electricity generation, grass and weed control in and around the site and maintenance of the fire break around the facility.
Stanwell is developing a pipeline of renewable energy and storage projects throughout Queensland, with a portfolio that includes more than 3,000 MW of renewable energy under contract, in construction or development.
It is driving the development of Queensland’s hydrogen industry and the use of other new technologies, with a $117 million front-end engineering design (FEED) study underway to progress Australia’s largest renewable hydrogen export hub in Gladstone.
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