NBN inks 10-year contract with new solar farm in race to 100 pct renewables by 2026

NBN Co has signed its third renewable Power Purchase Agreement, inking a 10-year deal that will help to underwrite the construction of a new 120MW solar farm in south-east Queensland.

The deal, announced on Friday, will see NBN take more than 20 per cent of the output from Munna Creek solar farm, being built by Mytilineos Energy near Gympie.

For the Munna Creek project, which was bought up by Mytilineos earlier this year, the PPA is its second in a matter of months, after Telstra signed up to take half its output in September.

For the NBN, Australia’s publicly owned “national digital backbone,” the 59GWh a year Munna Creek offtake goes towards meeting its commitment to source 100 per cent of its electricity from renewables from December 2025.

“Our network investment plan is taking fibre deeper into communities, improving and extending fixed wireless
coverage and satellite capabilities to deliver faster speeds and greater capacity, and delivering an excellent
customer experience,” said NBN Co CEO Stephen Rue.

“As a significant consumer of electricity, we understand the importance of using new renewable energy sources
to power the nbn network, while also driving down emissions and our own operating costs.”

The Munna Creek PPA marks the second such deal between NBN and Mytilineos – and the second that will contribute to a large-scale solar project being delivered in Australia.

The first was a 10-year PPA to take around 90GWh a year from the West Wyalong solar farm in News South Wales’ Riverina region. That solar project was officially completed and switched on in July 2023.

NBN has also secured a six-year PPA for around 10 per cent of the output of the 420MW Macarthur wind farm, now owned by AGL Energy, in a deal signed just last month.

The Munna Creek solar farm is expected to start generating and sending power to the grid in July 2025.