Victoria’s coal power hub, the Latrobe Valley, will be home to the state’s largest solar farm with the 450 MW Hazelwood North Solar Farm project, which also includes a 450 / 1,800 MWh battery energy storage facility, granted planning permit approval, paving the way for construction of the project to start.
The Hazelwood North Solar Farm, being developed by family-owned Latrobe Valley company Manthos Investments and project managed by Robert Luxmoore, is to be built on an 1,100-hectare property between Morwell and Traralgon, about 150 kilometres east of Melbourne.
In its planning application, the proponent said the project will benefit from the existing energy infrastructure in the region, and utilise the excess capacity left by the closure of the coal-fired Hazelwood power station in 2017 as well as the upcoming closure of Yallourn (2028) and Loy Yang power stations (2035).
“The region has historically been the centre of Victoria’s power generation system and has therefore seen significant investment in electricity infrastructure,” it said. “With the decline in coal-fired power generation, there are opportunities to fill Australia’s power needs with renewable energy.”
Construction of the Hazelwood North Solar Farm is expected to start in the coming months and when complete, the project will be larger than any solar farm currently operating in Victoria.
The 450 MW facility will be capable of generating more than 700,000 MWh of clean electricity per year with the four-hour battery energy storage system allowing for consistent electricity supply to the grid.
Victoria Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny said the project will support the state’s renewable energy generation targets of 65% by 2030 and 95% by 2035. These generation targets are supported by energy storage targets of at least 2.6 GW by the end of the decade and 6.3 GW by 2035.
“The approval of the Hazelwood North Solar Farm will strengthen Victoria’s renewable energy industry and provide cheaper, cleaner power to thousands of homes,” Kilkenny said.
The $651 million (USD 433 million) project is also expected provide a significant economic boost for the communities across the region with the construction phase to create about 500 jobs.
The design of the project will also allow for agricultural activity to continue on the site which is currently used for a combination of grazing and dryland cropping.
“The panels will not present a risk to the livestock, and farming operations will not affect the efficiency of the solar facilities,” the developer said. “Allowing agricultural activities to continue on the site represents best practice within the renewable energy industry and maximises the utility of the site.”
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