First PV modules installed at Australia’s biggest solar plant

Australia’s largest solar project, the 102MW Nyngan Solar Plant in central New South Wales, has achieved a major milestone with the installation of the first of more than 1.35 million solar PV modules.

First Solar officially began installing the thin-film modules at the 250 hectare site on Tuesday, a project that it expects will generate an estimated 300 construction jobs, with the majority of employees being sourced from the state’s regional areas.

Born of the federal government’s Solar Flagships program – a renewables scheme created under the first Rudd regime to foster the development of utility-scale solar projects – and subsequently backed by ARENA, the NSW government, and the Education Infrastructure fund – the Nyngan Solar Plant will also be the largest of its kind in Australia once complete.

Construction is expected to take around 18 months to complete, with the plant slated to be fully operational by June 2015 – by which time it is expected to produce enough electricity to power more than 33,000 average NSW homes and to reduce CO2 pollution by more than 203,000 tonnes every year.

The Nyngan plant will be complemented by another 53MW solar PV plant at Broken Hill, due to commence construction in mid-2014, with an expected completion date of November 2015.

Together the two solar plants will cover an area equivalent to Sydney’s CBD and North Sydney with PV modules, and will deliver a total capacity of 155MW of energy for NSW.

Back in January, First Solar’s Jack Curtis – vice president for business development in Asia Pacific – and ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht hailed the Nyngan project’s progress as evidence of the advancement of Australia’s utility-scale solar industry, and key to the transfer of skills and experience to the local labour market.

“Each project that First Solar constructs builds acceptance of and confidence in utility-scale solar as an effective source of power generation in Australia,” said Curtis.

“As the Nyngan project develops, we look forward to seeing its impact, not only in generating important local job opportunities, but also in strengthening the solar industry’s position within Australia’s energy mix.”

This week, Curtis noted that local procurement was accounting for over 55 per cent of total procurement spending on the Nyngan project.

“When you consider that there are already over 150 multi-skilled construction jobs on the site itself, it reinforces the fact that utility-scale solar farms not only provide Australia with clean energy, but also with sustainable job opportunities across the sector,” Curtis said.