Here comes the sun: Clarence Valley Council’s looks at big solar plan

Report looks at whether council can turn landfill into powering more than half their power costs.

It was space allocated to waste, but an investigation at the Grafton Regional Landfill could lead to powering more than half of council into the future.

This week’s council meeting will consider a preliminary investigation into developing a mid-scale solar farm on land at the landfill.

It came following a strategy adopted to meet targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent before 2030, and provide 50 per cent of Councils electricity demand from renewable energy before 2030. One of the adopted actions was to investigate the development of a mid scale solar farm on Council land.

The proposed 3.5ha farm will be reclaimed from landfill purposes, and is positioned near an 11kV power line, which makes it suitable as a solar farm.

The site has the capacity to develop a 4.2MW solar farm that could produce 6024 MWh/annum of electricity. This would be equivalent to 52.93 per cent of Councils electricity demand and reduce emissions by 5422t CO2e or 38 per cent of Councils current emissions footprint according to the report.

The report notes that many new solar farms include battery storage to increase stability of the network, although this investigation reveals the current cost may not make it viable without external funding. The concept will be included in any further feasibility study to test the proposed business case.

The report states that apart from reducing council’s greenhouse gas emissions, there were benefits such as job creation, economic development and encouragement of other groups to build similar projects.

If councillors endorse the report, a detailed feasibility report which includes a business case will be undertaken, with money allocated in the 2021/22 budget.