Australia approves two new solar power plants in NSW and Queensland

• 6 days ago (2024-10-09)
• David Flin

Australasia 54 Solar 266

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The Australian Government has approved two solar power projects with a combined generating capacity of 800 MW. The projects are the 450 MW Goulburn River Solar Park in New South Wales and the 350 MW Sixteen Mile Solar Project near Chinchilla in Queensland.

The 450 MW Goulburn River Solar Park is located near Merriwa between the Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) and the Hunter Central Coast REZ, and will have direct access to the existing transmission network. The project will include construction of 1 million solar panels, a battery energy storage system (BESS) and local road upgrades.

The 350 MW Sixteen Mile Solar Project comprises over 570 000 solar panels and a 120 MW BESS. It is planned to connect it to the existing Western Downs Substation.

Australia has approved 63 renewable energy projects in the last two years. At the end of 2023, the country had over 11 GW of onshore wind capacity.