NSW government greenlights million-panel solar project

A MILLION-PANEL solar farm, expected to power 229,000 homes, has been greenlit for construction by the New South Wales (NSW) government.

The Birriwa Solar project, led by Southeast Asian renewables firm ACEN, will be built across 1,200 hectares of land near Dunedoo, in the Central-West Orana region of Australia.

At capacity, the farm is expected to generate around 600 MW of solar energy, with its centralised battery energy storage system (BESS) storing up to 600 MW for two hours.

Tanya Plibersek MP, the NSW government’s minister for the environment and water, said: “Labor is getting on with the job of transforming Australia into a renewable energy superpower.”

She added: “I’ve ticked off more than 55 renewable energy projects in two years – enough to power almost seven million homes.”

Renewable energy zone

ACEN says that the farm will be built in an area “ideal” for renewable energy projects, as the land is free of vegetation and located away from towns.

The project is part of the NSW government’s wider Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (REZ), an A$3.2bn (US$2.2bn) initiative lead by the state-owned EnergyCo.

The scheme involves using approximately 20,000 m2 of land in the Dunedoo and Dubbo regions to build renewable energy technologies, specifically wind and solar projects.

Birriwa Solar will connect to one of the two energy hubs in the REZ scheme, called Merotherie. 

Regional benefits

The solar project is expected to contribute to NSW’s target of using 50% renewable energy by 2030, with the project potentially reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 6m t/y, according to the government.

Now in its delivery phase, around 500 construction-related jobs are expected to be needed, with 20 to be retained once the farm is in operation.

The REZ scheme has been in the works since 2021 and is expected to generate 4.5 GW of network capacity by the end of the decade.