A council in the Australian state of Queensland has confirmed receipt of a planning application for a 1.5GW solar farm, with provision for battery energy storage, from Sunshine Energy Australia.
Somerset Regional Council said the plant would be spread across 2,055 hectares east of Harlin along the D’Aguilar Highway.
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Somerset mayor Graeme Lehmann said: “This is a complex development application put together by Ethos Urban planning consultants, who have been involved in other large infrastructure projects throughout Australia, on behalf of Sunshine Energy Australia.”
The site would be close to an existing high voltage power network, which is also close to the city of Brisbane. It is also one hour from a 570MW pumped storage plant at Splityard Creek.
Lehmann said: “The application has been referred to various government departments and agencies for their input and we will carefully assess it against our planning scheme like any other proposal.”
The Sunraysia 250MW solar project is said to be the largest in Australia currently under construction, although there have been proposals for far larger plants. Vena Energy, formerly Equis Energy had said it planned a 1GW project also in Queensland last year.
