The Cohuna Solar Farm built by the Leeson Group. Photo: Enel Green Power
A start on building the region’s biggest solar farm, near Rushworth, has been further delayed, but the scope of the project has been widened so the investment may get close to $1 billion.
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The developer, the Leeson Group, hopes to start building the energy plant late next year or in 2024, on a 1000-hectare site.
The project is expected to include more than one million tracking panels on former grazing and cropping land, six kilometres north-west of Stanhope.
The project expansion includes a 400 megawatt battery, four times the original size proposed.
Leeson Group managing director Peter Leeson said the larger battery would give greater energy security for the network.
Mr Leeson said the company had met all the planning requirements and was expecting the Victorian Government to sign off the planning approvals.
He said the project suffered some significant delays during COVID-19, plus some cultural investigations done with the registered Aboriginal party.
The planning approval process also changed after approval was received from Campaspe Shire Council.
The developer is looking forward to the government’s planning approval in the next few months.
The 440MW project, named the Corop Solar Farm and generating the equivalent power for 150,000 homes, is expected to employ thousands of people during the construction phase.
The Corop project will tap into the 220 kilovolt transmission line that runs across the site.
The company was improving landscape screening; looking at road and bridge upgrades; looking at drainage on the lower, northern end of the site; and looking at ways to improve traffic flow around the site, including making sure the school bus route was protected.
Mr Leeson said the company would work with the community and farmers to see if the site’s land could also be used for farming purposes like sheep grazing.
The Leeson Group built the 34MW Cohuna Solar Farm, which is now owned and operated by Enel Green Power.
Planning approvals have been given for the 95MW Girgarre project without any objections, and construction is expected to start later this year.
While waiting for the project to start, the Leeson Group made the property available to the community-run Girgarre Development Group, which cut hay for two seasons and raised $70,000 for the town.
Mr Leeson said there was a possibility a third crop could be cut from the land, depending on construction schedules.
He said the company was looking for further sites across northern Victoria.
“We are looking into anything from 13ha up to the size of Corop (1000ha)”.
“All our solar farms now incorporate batteries. We see solar as the best, low-cost way of generating energy.”
The site of the planned Corop Solar Farm in Geodetic Rd, Rushworth.
