NT solar project to power 5,000 homes, slash electricity bills

THE construction of two 10MW solar farms in Batchelor and Manton Dam will begin in April, creating 70 jobs, powering 5,000 homes and promising cheaper electricity.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner and Tetris Energy director Frank Boland at the Batchelor site of a new $43 million solar project. Picture: Natasha Emeck

THE construction of two 10MW solar farms in the Top End will begin in April, creating 70 jobs, powering 5,000 homes and promising cheaper electricity.

The $43 million solar project, proposed by Tetris Energy, will see hundreds of panels erected across 25ha of land at two sites in Batchelor and Manton Dam by mid 2019.

The Melbourne-based company yesterday announced they had entered into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with NT government-owned Jacana Energy and NT Solar Investments to start supplying power to the grid.

Director Frank Boland said the solar farms would generate 25,000 gigawatt-hours (gWh) of electricity a year, enough to power about nine per cent of all homes in the Darwin region.

“The Batchelor and Manton Dam sites were chosen for their ideal locations next to the Power and Water substations, to allow the electricity generated on these sites to feed efficiently into the network to supply all of the Darwin and Katherine region customers,” he said.

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When the sites get connected to the grid, he said they hoped everyday Territorians would notice a difference in their power bills.

“The NT’s an amazing place for renewable energy as a great solar resource and we’ll continue to look at opportunities for future projects,” he said.

Mr Boland said there was also room to expand on the solar farms in the future to accommodate customer needs.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the two 10MW solar farms, in combination with the previously announced 25MW Katherine Solar Farm, would catapult the share of renewable energy use in the NT’s major centres from the current 3 per cent to 10 per cent.

“We are delivering our election promise of 50 per cent renewables by 2030 and that will create local jobs, and cheaper, cleaner, more reliable power, which benefits all Territorians,” he said.