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Western Downs green power hub council approval.

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The Western Downs green power hub planned by French renewable giant Neoen has received council approval for a solar farm of size up to 500MW. This impressive project promises to bring  North Queensland solar jobs and continue the large-scale solar revolution in Queensland and Australia.

The Western Downs green power hub

The Western Downs green power hub
The Western Downs green power hub proposed location (source: westerndownsgreenpowerhub.com.au)

The Western Downs green power hub will be located 22km south of Chinchilla and 62km north west of Dalby, according to RenewEconomy. No word on the specifics of the gear they will use, but a huge 1500 hectares of ground mounted solar panels will feed two hectares of battery energy storage. This is going to be a gigantic undertaking.

According to the website for the green power hub, they’ll produce around 1.05MWh (million megawatt hours) per year.

“A combination of an ambitious Queensland Renewable Energy Target and a proactive government to meet those targets provide highly favourable conditions for renewable energy projects in the State,” Neoen says on the website.

“Consequently, the company will expedite the development of Western Downs Green Power Hub, as well as several other projects in Queensland.”

Construction was initially slated to commence in Q3 this year but it now looks like mid a 2019 start date will be more likely, according to the website.

“Construction is expected to start mid 2019 providing employment opportunities for the region.”

An article from the Chronicle in September last year (when it was being touted as a 250MW solar plant) noted that the consturction phase of the project will generate up to 300 solar jobs and between two to four during regular usage.

Neoen have been responsible for a number of huge projects across Australia recently:

 

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Eco Energy World’s Queensland Solar Farms

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Eco Energy World, the UK based solar company who in 2016 promised to bring 1GW of PV Solar to Australia, have gained approval for three new Queensland solar farms.

Eco Energy World Queensland Solar

In a statement provided Tuesday, Eco Energy (founded in 2012, but founder Svante Kumlin also started solar PV module manufacturing facility Eco Supplies in 1993)  said the new plants, as with previously approved projects, will feed directly into the grid via a ‘merchant’ model. This means EEW will not need to sign any Power Purchase Agreements and will instead be free to offer the energy on the spot market at wholesale prices (they’ll also be eligible for large-scale renewable energy certificates).

So far their plans include:

  • 280MW in Bouldercombe
  • 140MW in Maryborough
  • 20MW in Chinchilla

The Chairman of Eco Energy World, Svante Kumlin, is quoted on their website as saying  “The solar revolution has only just started. Today, solar represents only 1% of the global energy market. By 2030, it will be 10% meaning that an additional 1600 GW of solar power plants will be constructed during this time and the market will grow 10 times.” Kumlin is also active on Twitter as @SvanteKumlin if you’re interested in following him.

EEW have developed more than 200MW of renewable energy projects and currently have over 500MW under development. According to their site they plan to develop the 1GW in the ‘coming 3 years’. The site doesn’t state that they are specifically talking about Australia but we will update with further details as they are available – according to the timelines below it shouldn’t be long before we hear more about EEW’s plans for Qld Solar.

Eco Energy World Queensland Solar Farm
Eco Energy World Logo (source: eew.solar)

Kumlin advised RenewEconomy that the new projects will increase large scale solar power generation in Queensland by “approximately 410MW’ will will create “hundreds of jobs and services”.  Construction on the projects will commence this year in Q3 and are expected to be connected directly to the grid by the end of the year. This unpopular model (i.e. eschewing Power Purchase Agreements in favour of selling directly on the sport market) will be one that’s definitely watched closely by other solar farm developers – it allows a lot more control and potentially a lot more profit but lacks the stability of a long term agreement with a  major utility.

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