Two Telstra-contracted solar farms power up in two separate states

Spanish energy company Naturgy has commissioned two solar PV plants in two separate states of Australia with a combined capacity of 360 megawatts (MW) – both of which will start delivering on contracts to supply renewable electricity to telecoms giant, Telstra.

Naturgy, through its international generation subsidiary Global Power Generation (GPG), announced last week that it had commissioned a 260 MW solar PV plant in Glenellen in New South Wales, and a 96 MW solar project in Bundaberg, Queensland.

The Glenellen solar farm is Naturgy’s largest in Australia, so far, with 373,000 modules spread across 300 hectares and an annual generating potential of 450 gigawatt-hours (GWh) – enough to power 80,000 homes.

The Glenellen project has been designed as an agrivoltaic plant integrating renewable energy generation with agricultural activity, in this case, livestock farming through sheep grazing.

The Bundaberg solar plant is Naturgy’s first project in Queensland, with more than 162,000 modules capable of generating around 200 GWh per year – equivalent to the consumption of around 36,000 homes.  

Image Credit: Naturgy

Long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) have already been signed for the sale of energy from both projects, including a deal with Australian telecom giant Telstra to buy 50 per cent of the electricity generated by the Glenellen project – sealed in September 2024.

Almost a year earlier, in December 2023, Telstra signed a deal to buy the majority of the output of the Bundaberg project, too.

The two projects bring Naturgy’s combined capacity in operation to 1.3 GW, with a further 500 MW under construction and a 2 GW pipeline of projects in development concentrated in Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia, and Queensland.

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