World’s largest facility
300,000 homes will be powered
THE world’s largest solar farm, set to be built in the Somerset region over the next few years, will power up to 300,000 homes once it is operational.
Sunshine Energy Australia was last week granted development approval by the Somerset Regional Council to build the largest single-site solar farm in the world, as well as a 500mw lithium battery storage facility also the largest in the world.
The renewable energy project will be built in two phases at Harlin, north of Esk, and when functional will produce enough green energy to power around 300,000 homes.
Sunshine Energy Director Anthony Youssef said during construction the $2 billion project would create about 1000 jobs, with up to 60 full-time jobs created for the life of its 25 to 30-year operation.
“We are excited to be building the world’s largest singlesite solar farm in Queensland and are gratified that our solar farm will be one of the major contributors towards the country’s renewable energy goals,” Mr Youssef said.
At 1500MW, the 2055ha Sunshine Energy farm is set to be the largest single-site solar farm in the world to date.
Mr Youssef said Sunshine Energy would ensure most of the jobs recruited would be locally sourced.
“The 500mw battery storage on-site will provide additional energy distribution options, providing a more consistent energy supply that will reduce price volatility during peak periods,” he said.
“We are using our high performance Lithium battery system, patented in Australia, for the facility.”
The massive site will comprise 247,000 subarrays of 21 solar modules, with a total of 5,191,200 solar panels on the site. Two substations built by Powerlink will distribute the energy back to the commercial electricity network.
Sunshine Energy is also proposing to build a tourist and educational facility to educate people, and school groups, about the solar farm and the importance of green and renewable energy.
Construction of the facility is expected to take two to three years and will commence in late 2019.
Photo: Emma Murray