Neoen starts powering up its second-largest solar farm in Australia

The local subsidiary of French-based renewable energy producer Neoen has begun commissioning its second largest solar farm in Australia, the 350MW (440MWp) Culcairn solar facility in Riverina Region of New South Wales.

Neoen Australia said late last week that it would start “supplying our first electrons” from the Culcairn solar farm into the state’s electricity network this week, roughly 18 months after construction of the project first began.

The Culcairn solar farm consists of nearly 760,000 panels at a site around 45km north of Albury and 70km south of Wagga Wagga in the South East Riverina Region of New South Wales.

The project is expected to generate approximately 800,000MWh of clean electricity each year, avoiding around 267,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year and providing power to as many as 155,000 homes.

When the Culcairn solar farm was first approved by the NSW planning department back in March of 2021, approval was also granted for a 100MW/200MWh battery.

Late last year, however, Neoen secured a modification to its development approval to increase the size of the battery up to 800MWh. Neoen is subsequently updating the project’s management plan to incorporate the resized battery ahead of the procurement process that will select a battery supplier.

Once completed, the battery will be spread across approximately 4 hectares in the centre of the project site, adjacent to the Transgrid switching station.

Neoen secured an underwriting agreement with the NSW state government last year, known as a Long-Term Energy Services Agreement (LTESA), that provides a price floor for 20 years.

:ast year, it also signed a purchase agreement (PPA) with SmartestEnergy Australia is to take 50 per cent of the solar farm’s output for four years and starts in 2026. 

Earlier this year, Renew Economy reported that a Chinese tech company had completed its first solar module mounting contract with an AI-controlled robot at Culcairn, helping to carve 25 per cent off the project delivery time, and doing the job of three to four humans.

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