Australia’s Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has announced approval for the Muskerry Solar Power Station, a 250 MW solar farm and 200 MW, four-hour battery energy storage system being developed by Edify Energy in Victoria.
The PV facility will include about 500,000 solar panels spread across approximately 500 hectares about 35 kilometres east of Bendigo. The project will connect into the national electricity grid via network operator AusNet’s existing 220 kV distribution system that crosses the proposal site.
Once complete, the power station is expected to generate up to 612,000 MWh clean energy per year. Edify said the battery energy storage system would assist in delivery of power to the network during peak demand times.
Much of the proposal site is currently used for agricultural purposes and Edify said it will work with stakeholders to explore the potential introduction of sheep grazing once the project is operational.
The company said establishing a grazing enterprise would not only support the historic land use of the property but also “maximise the value derived from the proposal site.”
The approval decision comes just 20 business days after Edify had voluntarily referred the project to the minister to ensure the federal government was fully satisfied with the project’s planning approval.
Plibersek said the Muskerry project had ticked all the right boxes, adding that the approval “marks another important milestone in the government’s plan to make Australia a renewable energy superpower.”
“The renewable energy transition is real, it’s happening right now,” she said. “[But] projects need to be placed in the right areas and designed so that their environmental impacts are minimised, as is the case with this project.”
Plibersek said in addition to supporting Australia’s renewable energy ambitions, the Muskerry Solar Power Station project would also deliver significant economic benefits for the region.
“We know projects like this are vital to boosting renewables capacity and putting downward pressure on prices, but they are also great for local jobs and economies,” she said.
Edify has provided no start date for construction but estimates the project will generate up to 350 direct jobs during the construction phase and up to 10 ongoing jobs.
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