Beelbee Solar Farm approved by WDRC

The Western Downs Regional Council has approved the Beelbee Solar Farm, which is owned by the APA Group (who are also responsible for the Darling Downs Solar Farm which they purchased from Origin Energy in May with an option over the Beelbee project). This is the ninth solar farm approved for the Western Downs region. 

Beelbee Solar Farm
Beelbee Solar Farm Location (source: Google Maps)

About the Beelbee Solar Farm

The Chronicle has reported that the Beelbee solar farm will feed between 150MW and 240MW into the national electricity grid. It will also include up to 100MW of battery storage. The Deputy Mayor of Western Downs, Andrew Smith, was quoted in the paper and was very excited about the opportunities APA Group are providing to the local area with their solar investments. 

“What a month it’s been and I’m told there’s even more development applications in the pipeline,” Cr Smith said.

“Complementing their Darling Downs Solar Farm, their commitment to bring another renewable energy project to our region highlights the Western Downs’ economic strength and impressive portfolio on the solar energy scene.

Smith also noted that the planning and development assessment team at Western Downs have been working hard to minimise the turnaround time for development applications, telling the Chronicle that the Beelbee Solar Farm was approved in “less than six weeks”. It’ll be interesting to see how this helps the Western Downs compete against Toowoomba solar farms – let’s hope we see a lot more in the future as their close proximity to Brisbane means that it could be a great opportunity to feed energy back into the grid for Australia’s third largest city. 

No word yet on PPA’s, but Origin Energy will buy all the renewable energy generated by the Darling Downs solar farm (which will generate 110MW) from 2018-2030, so perhaps the APA Group will piggyback onto that for a PPA with the Beelbee solar farm. 

 

Read More Solar News:

Darling Downs Solar Farm sold by Origin to APA Group.

The Darling Downs Solar Farm, previously owned by Origin Energy Ltd, has been sold to pipelines owner APA Group. According to Sky News it was a $220 million deal.

The project (it isn’t built yet and is slated to reach completion in 2018) will be located near Dalby, next to an existing 644MW gas-fired generator. The PV Solar Farm will be constructed with 110MW capacity and Origin have already signed a 12 year purchase power agreement (from 2018 – 2030) to receive the energy output of the farm. The $220m project was the biggest to come out of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)’s recent large scale solar tender – receiving $20m from them to support the infrastructure. This funding will now go directly to APA to complete the project.

Darling Downs Solar Farm
PV Solar Farm Queensland (source: arena.gov.au)

Origin Energy and the Darling Downs Solar Farm

Origin CEO Frank Calabria has been quoted by saying that Origin have added more than 650MW of power to their portfolio recently and are confident they’ll be able to reach their share of the renewable energy target.

“We’re well on our way towards achieving our objective of building or contracting up to 1,500 MW of new large scale renewable generation by 2020. This will see Origin almost entirely replace the capacity of what was one of Australia’s largest carbon emitters, the recently retired Hazelwood power station, with 100 per cent renewable energy.”

Managing Director Mick McCormack was also quoted as showing how Origin is on board: “…we see investing in renewable energy as key to supporting Australia’s transition to a lower carbon economy”

APA Group

The Darling Downs Solar Farm is the second solar acquisition for APA Group – it’ll follow the Emu Downs Solar Farm facility in Western Australia. It will be built alongside the Emu Downs Wind Farm and was funded by ARENA as well, with $5.5m being awarded for the $20m 20MW Cervantes farm which will encompass 80,000 solar panels over 70 hectares. It is expected to be completed by this December.

Read More Solar News: