Plans revealed for solar farm at Bororen and Calliope

As the debate around nuclear power continues across Central Queensland plans for two solar farms in the region have been revealed.

Adani Renewables Australia Rugby Run solar farm.

As the debate over nuclear power continues in Central Queensland plans for two new solar farms in the Gladstone region have been revealed.

Plans were recently lodged with Gladstone Regional Council for a new solar farm at Bororen.

According to the planning document, lodged on behalf of Red Hill Renewable Energy Pty Ltd, the solar farm is proposed to be built on Red Hill Rd.

The solar farm is to be constructed on a parcel of land about 1277 hectares in size it would use either fixed or tracker PV panels of up to 900MW (DC) of generation capacity.

According to the document the solar farm would also include ancillary infrastructure such as inverter stations, substations, operational equipment, staff amenities and lightning protection.

A separate application has also been lodged for a Battery Energy Storage System on the same site.

Meanwhile plans for the Upper Calliope Solar Farm have also been lodged with the Federal Government to determine if it will need further approval from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

Dubbed “Australia’s largest solar farm” the Upper Calliope Solar Farm will be able to generate up to 1300 MW, with the project area as a whole comprising of more than 8000 hectares.

While the project area is more than 8000 ha, the disturbance footprint of the project is only proposed to take up 2677.8 ha.

In January mining giant Rio Tinto signed a power purchase agreement with European Energy Australia to buy all of the power generated from the development for 25 years.

With the purchase, Rio Tinto will be able to power their three main assets in the Gladstone region - the Boyne Island aluminium smelter, the Yarwun alumina refinery and the Queensland alumina refinery.

The project will contribute to the company’s objective of securing 4GW of wind and solar energy to provide clean power for the three operations which currently use a coal powered energy source.

Public comment on the Upper Calliope Solar Farm will be open until July 2.

If approved the Upper Calliope Solar Farm is expected to begin construction in 2025 or 2026, with works to take about two years to complete.