Planning starts for energy, food hub

People across Australia and possibly beyond will soon be eating fresh fruit and vegetables grown with the aid of renewable power generated and stored at Bulgana near Great Western.

‘Nuts and bolts’ paperwork to turn the $565-million Bulgana Green Power Hub from concept to reality is well underway, with building scheduled to start later this year.

Northern Grampians Shire Council chief executive Michael Bailey confirmed project partners were now in the process of working through finalising a raft of details including agreements, contracts and timelines.

“While we’ve had the big announcement that it was all happening, there is now a concerted effort to get it up and running,” he said.

“There are multiple layers of formalities to go through and quite indepth requirements. We’re breaking new ground in many respects – not just from a conceptual perspective, but also in delivering the project.

“This is a half-billion-dollar project and it’s not like building a house. It is absolutely essential that we dot all the i’s and cross all the tees. Everything has to be right. I’m wearing out a few biros that’s for sure.”

The hub, to be the first of its kind in the world, will combine energy generated from wind turbines, power storage from a grid-scale battery and an intense greenhouse agribusiness. It has the potential to be an international blueprint for other projects tapping into the use of renewable-energy farms.

Sustainable energy producer Neoen Australia, agribusiness Nectar Farms and the State Government, brought together through the Northern Grampians council, have signed a memorandum of understanding.

Largest

In terms of regional development, the value-adding project is one of the largest in the Wimmera for many years.

Predictions are that as well as creating 600 direct positions, the project will also support 930 indirect jobs.

Mr Bailey said the project announcement on the remote windswept rural site last month had sent a buzz through the district community.

“There is a great vibe in the community that things are really progressing,” he said.

“It’s not every day that you get a half a billion dollars worth of capital development that is not only clean and green but also produces a nutritionally high product. It is certainly ticking a lot of boxes.”

The project will include a 63-turbine Neoen wind farm and a 20-megawatt lithium-ion battery that will be next to Nectar Farms greenhouses. It is designed to be a staged development during the next two years.

Nectar Farms aims to produce fruit and vegetables to meet both domestic and export market demand and has an exclusive agreement to supply Costa Group, the largest fruit and vegetable wholesaler in Australia.

Neoen Bulgana project manager Matt Parton said the collaborative nature of the Bulguna hub reflected the diverse opportunities available from a growing renewable-energy industry.

He agreed that having battery energy storage from a wind farm was exciting in its own right.

“It’s about meeting the needs of business,” he said.

“To have a co-located energy and intensive cropping facility won’t be the solution for everyone, but it shows the opportunities that are emerging.

“Battery-technology development now is probably at the same stage solar panels were about 10 years ago.

“There will be a lot of batteries rolled out in the near future and I believe there are other opportunities in the Wimmera.”