French independent power producer (IPP) Neoen Australia has confirmed that its 440MW Culcairn solar PV power plant in New South Wales has entered the commissioning phase.
The Culcairn solar PV plant is being developed near the town of Culcairn in the south-east Murray region of the state. The region is a busy agricultural centre, and Culcairn is often called the ‘Oasis of the Riverina’.
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Neoen Australia took to LinkedIn to announce that the utility-scale solar PV power plant’s commissioning started this week, with around 760,000 modules installed.
The PV plant will have an operational lifespan of 30 years and include a 100MW/200MWh battery energy storage system (BESS). It will connect to the National Electricity Market (NEM) via an on-site 330kV transmission line managed by TransGrid.
The project is expected to be fully operational by 2026. It will initially supply energy retailer SmartestEnergy Australia with 50% of the energy generated over the first four years, per a power purchase agreement (PPA) signed last year.
Neoen secured development consent from the New South Wales Department of Planning, Industry and Environment for Culcairn in March 2021, despite receiving 50 complaints from members of the public. It was predicted that the project would cost around A$636 million (US$415 million) to develop.
It was previously reported by PV Tech that the site will be Neoen Australia’s second-largest solar plant, after the 460MW solar PV project at Western Downs Green Power Hub, which is already in operation in Queensland.
Neoen, the parent company of the Australian entity, which is set to be taken over by Canadian asset manager Brookfield, secured AU$1.4 billion in capital last December to help fuel new solar PV, wind and energy storage projects in Australia.
The organisation said the capital raise would support its existing 66MW Parkes, 36MW Griffith and 28MW Dubbo solar PV plants in New South Wales, alongside the 157MW Kaban Green Power Hub in Queensland, comprising wind generation.
It would also be distributed across Australia to develop an additional 1.3GW of renewable energy generation and energy storage capacity.
