Western Australian Energy Minister, Bill Johnston, has officially opened APA Group’s new Badgingarra Solar Farm in Hill River, about 200km north of Perth.
The $40 million solar farm consists of almost 62,000 solar panels, installed across 40 hectares of land, and has a capacity of 19.25MW – equivalent to powering more than 6,000 Western Australian homes.
This is APA’s fourth facility in its renewables precinct, which is co-located with the Badgingarra Wind Farm, Emu Downs Wind Farm and Emu Downs Solar Farm.
Over the next 25 years, APA’s clean energy initiatives will save over 8.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gases from being released into the atmosphere, and provide renewable energy for more than 220,000 Western Australian households each year.
The total combined capacity of the precinct, which includes 85 wind turbines and nearly 140,000 solar panels, is approximately 250MW.
The Badgingarra Solar Farm utilises a solar tracker system, so the panels can follow the path of the sun from east to west as the Earth rotates.
“I’d like to congratulate the APA Group and everyone else involved with the construction of the Badgingarra Solar Farm,” Mr Johnston said.
“Projects such as the Badgingarra Solar Farm demonstrate that we can create regional opportunities built around cleaner and cheaper energy sources that support increased power reliability in the regions.
“The McGowan Government is committed to helping the state compete for, and capture, a significant share of these high-value, fast-growing energy technology opportunities.”
