“Remarkable achievement:” Victoria solar farm reaches full power ahead of schedule

The 130MW Glenrowan solar farm in Victoria has knocked out another milestone, reaching full power and completing final grid connection testing just months after achieving first generation in late November.

The solar farm on Tuesday received conditional approval from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) to operate at full power, making it the first of six VRET projects to reach this milestone.

Just last week, the project’s owner, Cimic Group company Pacific Partnerships, had said the plan was for the project to ramp up to full production by the end of March 2024, pending AEMO’s approval.

“Achieving full power for Glenrowan within a year demonstrates Cimic’s ability to reliably develop and deliver renewable energy into the national market, generating power for 45,000 Australian homes and helping meet Victoria’s … targets,” said Cimic Group executive chair Juan Santamaria.

Pacific Partnerships’ managing director Simon Nicholls says the project now remains on track to reach practical completion ahead of schedule: “a remarkable achievement that is testament to the great work of the Pacific and UGL teams, and the collaborative approach from AEMO and the Victorian transmission network operator,” he said.

“Achieving full power just one year after financial close demonstrates the delivery certainty of our integrated energy model, while making a meaningful contribution to driving new investment.”

Fellow Cimic Group company UGL, which will operate and maintain the solar farm, says getting permission to operate at full power demonstrates that the network operators are satisfied with the quality of the project’s generation performance.

“Smooth delivery of the solar farm and efficient commissioning demonstrates the benefit of close cooperation between two Cimic Group companies, with aligned objectives for clean energy transition and community benefit.”

The 245ha Glenrowan Solar Farm is located in Victoria’s North East Renewable Energy Zone (REZ), and has grid connection and services agreements with AusNet and AEMO.

It is part of a 2.5GW suite of energy projects currently under development by Pacific Partnerships, as part of the company’s 5GW plans.

The Glenrowan Solar Farm has a 10-year power purchase agreement with the Victorian government through its VRET auction scheme.