Focus

Goldwind Australia is pleased to announce that White Rock Solar Farm was granted development consent by the NSW Department of Planning and Environment on the 14th June 2016.

John Titchen, Managing Director at Goldwind Australia, said “The solar farm will be an excellent complement to White Rock Wind Farm which commenced construction in May this year. We welcome this development consent being granted following the thorough and efficient NSW Department of Planning and Environment process. Goldwind recognises and welcomes the strong community support for solar and wind energy development in the Northern Tablelands – we see great potential in this region.”

Early this year White Rock Solar Farm was shortlisted in the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) Large-Scale Solar Competitive grant program. If successful in the ARENA process, the project could commence construction from early 2017 and be operational by end of 2017.

White Rock Solar Farm is planned to be a 20 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant located adjacent to the northern end of White Rock Wind Farm, 18 km west of Glen Innes. The development is a pioneering hybrid solar/wind renewable energy facility for the New England Tablelands. It is expected to generate around 46,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity in the first year of operation, enough to supply the equivalent of approximately 7,200 average NSW homes.

White Rock Solar Farm is designed to benefit from sharing part of the wind farm infrastructure, including the grid connection, access tracks and some internal electrical cabling. The opportunity to share wind farm infrastructure maximises the use of available facilities without requiring construction of additional facilities elsewhere. Co-location of the project potentially unlocks over $5 million of savings.