Marulan solar and two-hour big battery heads on towards construction

Australian solar developer Terrain Solar says it is handing over development of the Marulan solar farm and battery energy storage system in southern NSW.

Terrain – which is to be bought by AGL Energy in a deal announced this week – said on its LinkedIn page that it had completed the successful commercial close and handover of the Marulan to Ratch Australia, the local subsidiary of the Thai based Ratch Group.

Ratch Australia will now take the project through construction, building, owning, and maintaining the asset as part of their Australian portfolio. It features a 152MW solar component with an 81MW/162MWh battery storage system.

Located in the Goulburn Mulwaree Council area in regional NSW, the Marulan project is one of two projects announced in October 2022 to be developed between Terrain and Ratch.

Marulan solar farm is also one of five projects being developed by Terrain, which also includes the Monaro, Myrtle Creek, Moama, and Kingaroy solar projects.

Plans to develop the project were approved by the state government in mid-2023, subject to certain conditions. Set to be built on agricultural land already cleared for sheep grazing, it is expected that this activity will continue at the site once the solar farm is completed.

Construction of the Marulan Solar Farm and Battery Energy Storage System is expected to get underway later this year and take around 18 months. Upon completion, the Marulan Solar Farm will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of around 56,000 homes.

“We are so happy to have taken this project from greenfields origination, through the development process to this stage,” said Craig Peters, Terrain Solar GM.

Ratch expects the project to provide up to 300 jobs during peak construction, with a focus on ensuring that as much of the workforce resides in the local area. A small team will also be necessary to manage operations once operational.