Good news from the state of Queensland as reported by The Guardian. The state’s largest operating solar farm has plugged into the national electricity grid and is set to generate enough power for about 10,000 homes by the end of 2016.
The Barcaldine community solar farm was connected to the national electricity market last Wednesday, which is more than a month ahead of schedule. The early delivery of the 20-megawatt solar plant was evidence of the growing speed and proficiency of big solar developers. It’s also one of the first renewable farms funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency according to Ivor Frischknect, ARENA CEO.
This will be followed by a dozen other large-scale solar farms to be built all over Australia by the end of 2017. This would ramp up national solar capacity to enough power for 150,000 homes.
The Barcaldine plant developer, Elecnor was backed by $22.8 in funding commitments by ARENA and $20 million in loans from Clean Energy Finance Corporation. According to Manuel Lopez-Velez, Elecnor’s business developer manager, the Barcaldine solar farm will generate about 57,000 megawatt-hours every year. This is equivalent to powering 9,800 households.
Click here to read the full story on The Guardian
Featured Image Credit: ARENA