CleanPeak Energy has launched its Wangaratta Solar Farm in Victoria’s northeast with the 38 MWdc in-front-of-the-meter plant helping to power a nearby particle board manufacturing facility, supporting owner Alpine MDF’s renewable energy and sustainability targets.
Built across a 74-hectare industrial site on the outskirts of Wangaratta, about 210 kilometres northeast of Melbourne, the solar farm includes more than 70,000 Longi 540 W solar panels mounted on Nextracker tracking systems. The PV plant has been operating since late 2025 and combines 33 MW of grid-connected solar generation with a dedicated connection supporting the Alpine MDF facility.
CleanPeak said the site also incorporates a 5 MW / 22 MWh battery energy storage system that is connected to the Alpine manufacturing facility via a private high-voltage connection. The solar farm was first energised in March 2025 with commissioning completed over the year. The 20 MWh battery was commissioned in January this year.
CleanPeak said the Wangaratta Solar Farm is capable of generating about 75 GWh of renewable energy annually, inclusive of the Alpine connection.
The project also supports agricultural activity with about 300 sheep grazing on site. Cleanpeak said the grazing activities deliver multiple benefits – helping manage vegetation growth and reduce fire risk while the solar infrastructure provides the sheep with shade and protection.
CleanPeak co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Philip Graham said the Wangaratta project shows how regional renewable energy developments can deliver long-term environmental, economic and community benefits.
“The Wangaratta Solar Farm is an important milestone for CleanPeak Energy and for the broader transition to renewable energy in regional Australia,” he said. “This project not only delivers reliable clean energy into the local electricity network, but also creates local employment opportunities, supports regional industry and strengthens our long-term presence in Wangaratta.” For CleanPeak, which specialises in generation and storage systems purpose-built at a client’s site, the launch of the Wangaratta facility enhances its operational portfolio that spans rooftop
solar, commercial-scale solar farms, battery energy storage systems, embedded networks and multi-utility precinct infrastructure.
Sydney-headquartered CleanPeak currently operates more than 40 MW of rooftop solar, 73 MW of utility-scale solar, and 37 MWh of battery energy storage system projects across New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia, as well as operating microgrids providing energy and thermal services for more than 1 million square metres of floorspace. It also has an additional 100 MW of solar and 300 MWh of battery projects in the pipeline.
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.