The project calling for the construction of a 720-MW solar farm, with up to 400 MWh of integrated battery storage, in New South Wales has secured a grid connection agreement with local network provider Transgrid.
The milestone for the New England Solar Farm was announced by developer UPC/AC Renewables Australia on Thursday. The company explained that this contract will facilitate the grid-connection of the solar park into the local power grid and enable trading of the electricity on the National Electricity Market.
AC Energy, a unit of the Philippines’ Ayala Corp (PSE:AC), owns 50% in project developer UPC Renewables, which is now operating under the name UPC/AC Renewables Australia. The company expects design work on a transmission substation to begin soon, while road upgrades will be initiated later this year.
The AUD-768-million (USD 528.7m/EUR 471.5m) New England Solar Farm project was awarded planning approval from New South regulators in March. Its construction is expected to take around 36 months.
Proposed to be installed near the town of Uralla, on the Northern Tablelands, the huge solar park will be capable of generating around 1,800 GWh of electricity annually, depending on the final installed capacity. An output of this scale will be enough to cover the consumption of more than 250,000 homes in the Aussie state. A phased process envisages coupling the power plant with a battery storage facility of up to 400 MWh.
