Queensland town to host large-scale solar farm, generating more jobs, energy

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced that it is providing $22.8 million for the construction of a large-scale solar farm in Barcaldine in central western Queensland. The new solar farm is expected to deliver about 10 percent of the country's large-scale solar electricity.

Minister for the Environment Greg Hunt recently said in a press release that the new Barcaldine Remote Community Solar Farm will generate enough energy to power up to 5,300 households in the Barcaldine area. The new solar plant is expected to annually produce 56,000 KWh of clean energy, helping Australia avoid an estimated 42,500 tonnes of harmful carbon emissions.

ARENA believes that the $69 million Barcaldine solar farm could provide jobs in the region and boost large-scale solar energy in the country. The agency expects up to 175 jobs to be created during construction of the solar farm, and early works will be carried out by employees from the local community.

Barcaldine is considered to have an excellent solar resource; however, there have been voltage and frequency control issues as well as load management challenges in the area. ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht assured, however, that the planned large-scale solar farm would provide voltage control and reduce the peak demand pressures.

“This project will serve as a test case showing how the network benefits from distributed renewable energy can improve network efficiency and potentially enable solar plants to access an extra revenue stream through network support payments,” he stated. The Barcaldine solar farm is due for completion in April 2017.

The solar farm will adopt the tracking technology being installed at the ARENA-supported Moree Solar Farm. The new project would provide further benchmark and additional information on the installation and operation of the tracking technology, which will be shared with the energy industry, Frischknecht said.

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