Contractor named to build delayed solar-battery project in Victoria

Recurrent Energy has named the builder for its 171 megawatt (MW) Carwarp solar farm and its accompanying battery, its own addition to the ongoing efforts to shore up the north-west Victoria electricity grid.

GRS, the EPC contractor of Spanish renewables company Gransolar, will build the new solar farm, which will use bifacial solar modules – panels that produce power from both sides.

The solar farm and its 120MW battery, whose duration is still not public available despite the project clearing financial close and securing a contractor, will be connected to the new Ausnet terminal station at Carwarp via a 6.7 km 220 kV overhead line.

The new solar farm will be 35 km south of Mildura, in Victoria, and is set to start operations in 2026.

It is being financed by ANZ, Westpac, and Société Générale’s Sydney branch via a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with a multinational corporate offtaker.

“We are proud to be at the forefront of this initiative, which will not only contribute to reducing carbon emissions but also create jobs and stimulate economic growth in the region,” said Gransolar Group Australia managing director Jose Miguel Plaza Pardo in a statement.

“This achievement is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire GRS team. Our track record in Australia speaks for itself.”

The contract is GRS’ fourteenth in Australia and brings the total capacity of local projects by the company to 2.1 gigawatts (GW).

The original Carwarp solar-only project was supposed to start construction in 2019 with a launch date in 2020, backed by a 15-year revenue guarantee from the Victorian government in 2018.

But at the time the region’s weak grid, designed to deliver small loads to small users, was struggling to take the surfeit of new wind and solar projects trying to hook into the network, and it was delayed. 

Many of those issues have been addressed with grid upgrades and local storage, with new grid ratings issued by the market operator this week indicating improved marginal loss factors for solar projects in the area, meaning they will be credited for more of their output into the grid.