Solar farm and big battery in Latrobe Valley gets planning green light

The proposed 70MW Morwell solar farm, located in the heart of Victoria’s coal-heavy Latrobe Valley, has been granted planning approval as Ratch Australia takes over the development of the project.

In an update to stakeholders, Ratch Australia said it had secured a planning permit to build the solar farm from the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, and expects to seek internal approvals to begin construction in the second half of 2022.

The project still needs to secure a connection agreement, but a spokesperson for Ratch said the project hopes to open the process of securing an EPC partner for the project in the next few weeks while progressing the technical design of the project.

The project will aim to employ a workforce drawn from the local Morwell area, including engaging businesses to provide civil engineering works, electrical services and labouring.

The project is also set to feature a battery component that will be added once the solar farm is operational, expected sometime in 2024. The battery is expected to be between 5MW and 30MW in capacity, but the final specifications and depth of storage are yet to be finalised.

The proposed location of the Morwell solar farm, in close proximity with network infrastructure built for the regions coal generators. (Supplied by Ratch Australia).

“Following the granting of a planning permit, [Ratch] is now focused on progressing the detailed and technical studies required to inform decision-making as we approach the construction phase,” the stakeholder update says.

The project’s initial development was undertaken by ARP Solar, which is still involved in the project but will hand over responsibility to Ratch.

The solar farm will be located in the heart of Morwell’s cluster of coal generators and hopes to take advantage of the existing network infrastructure in the area. Morwell was host to the now closed Morwell and Hazelwood power stations, with EnergyAustralia’s Yallourn power station also expected to close by 2028.

AGL Energy officially expects to operate the nearby Loy Yang A power station until 2048, but there is growing speculation that AGL will announce that AGL will bring forward this date as the cost of maintaining the plant and its emissions footprint become increasingly unviable.

Ratch has built a 1.2GW portfolio of renewable energy projects, including the 227MW Collector wind farm in New South Wales and the 213MW Yandin wind farm in Western Australia.