Luminous Energy sells 162MW Queensland solar park, signs PPA with CS Energy

Construction of the solar farm in the Western Downs area is expected to start later this year. Image: CS Energy/Twitter.

Project developer Luminous Energy has agreed to offload its 162MW Columboola Solar Farm in Queensland to South Korea’s Hana Financial Investment.

Due to be developed in the Western Downs area, the facility will feature bifacial panels and single-axis trackers. It is expected construction will commence later this year.

UK-based Luminous has also signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Queensland government-owned CS Energy, which will buy 100% of the output from the farm and sell it on to commercial and industrial retail customers such as Griffith University, CQUniversity and Queensland University of Technology.

CS Energy CEO Andrew Bills said the company is responding to the needs of large energy users like the universities by developing solutions that met their needs in terms of energy usage, decarbonisation and energy management.

“Through this PPA, CS Energy continues to diversify our portfolio and offer our retail customers renewable generation as part of their energy supply. We’re excited to facilitate further renewable energy development in Queensland and help move the state closer to achieving its goal of 50% renewables by 2030," he said. 

When the connection works commenced on Columboola Solar in October last year, Luminous Energy said the plant would serve as a “springboard to consolidate growth”, with the developer eyeing a pipeline of up to 1.2GW.

Tags: australia, queensland, utility-scale solar, cs energy, luminous energy, acquisition, project acquisition, ppa