Solar developer Lightsource BP has been granted planning approval to develop a 400MWdc solar farm in New South Wales Australia.
The Wellington North Solar Farm, which was bought from AGL last year and is intended to comprise of 1.2 million bifacial solar panels, will sit adjacent to a 200MWdc solar system in the area that is currently under construction. Once complete, the entire project will become the state’s largest renewable energy system by capacity, according to a statement from the developer. It is also amongst the first to use bifacial panels in the country.
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Adam Pegg, Lightsource BP’s country manager in Australia, said that the project marks “an important step forward in our ambition to help Australia transition to a lower carbon future”, generating 1,173,000MWh of renewable electricity to power 170,000 households.
Lightsource BP secured financing for the original 200MWdc project, its first utility-scale solar installation in Australia, in October 2019, turning to Canadian Solar to source panels. Power in the original project will be supplied to electricity company Snowy Hydro through a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA).
Elsewhere in the region, the company secured a PPA in March with the same electricity company to power 88 of its own service stations in New South Wales with solar energy from a 107MWdc solar farm in West Wyalong, which is currently seeking construction financing.
