AGL Energy Limited has confirmed that construction of the Broken Hill Solar Plant in western New South Wales is progressing on schedule, with half of the plant’s 650,000 solar PV modules installed.
AGL’s Project Manager for the Broken Hill Solar Plant, Adam Mackett, said first generation from the 53 megawatt (MW) solar plant is expected to be achieved in the next few months and remains on track to be fully operational by the end of 2015.
“The plant is really starting to take shape with half of the solar plant modules installed and connected. We currently have around 150 people working on site, with approximately half from the local region,” said Mr Mackett.
The $150 million Broken Hill Solar Plant, being built approximately five kilometres southwest of Broken Hill, will cover an area of approximately 140 hectares.
AGL will provide an update on construction progress and other aspects of the project at a Broken Hill Solar Plant community information session on Wednesday, 1 July. Open to the public, the event will be held at the Broken Hill Centre for Community, 200 Beryl Street, Broken Hill, from 6pm to 8pm.
“This meeting is open to the public and there has been good discussion at previous meetings. We really encourage people to come along and find out what’s happening at the solar plant and ask any questions they may have,” said Mr Mackett
AGL will deliver the Broken Hill Solar Plant in partnership with the Federal Government’s Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), the NSW Government, the Broken Hill City Council, the local community and project partners First Solar. Once fully operational the Broken Hill plant will produce enough renewable energy to power 17,000 homes annually.
The Broken Hill Solar Plant is the second of two plants that AGL is building in western NSW. The 102 MW Nyngan Solar Plant began construction in January 2014 and remains on track to be fully operational next month. The two plants, worth $440 million combined are being constructed with $166.7 million funding support from the ARENA and $64.9 million from the NSW Government. When completed the two plants will be Australia’s largest utility-scale solar projects.
