Robertson Barracks solar farm switches on and will power up 1800 homes during off-peak
As billions are poured into fortifying Australia’s ‘northern base’, the Assistant Defence Minister said the new Robertson Barracks solar farm shows the NT can deliver ‘big renewable energy projects’.
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A new solar farm will supply up to 10 megawatts of power for Darwin’s key army barracks and up to 1800 surrounding homes.
Robertson Barracks, which houses more than 3000 Australian defence personnel and US Marines, saw its new installation at Holtze officially powered up on Tuesday.
Assistant Defence Minister Matt Thistlethwaite appeared with Solomon MP Luke Gosling to cut the ribbon on the multimillion-dollar project, although the true value remains in commercial confidence.
Work began on the site in 2019, which now contains 27,000 solar panels and will supply 40 per cent of the barracks’ energy needs according to a Defence Australia spokesman.
The excess supply will be redirected to nearby residential properties depending on how much power is generated.
Mr Thistlethwaite said that it would cut 6100 tonnes of carbon emissions in its first year of operation.
“It will dramatically reduce defence’s energy costs, it will improve energy resilience for the base, and it will reduce carbon emissions in the local community,” Mr Thistlethwaite said.
“The recently produced National Defence Strategy highlighted that climate change and energy security are major national security issues, and defence is getting on the front foot and making sure that we have energy resilience and renewable energy projects such as this into the future.”
In January, Mr Thistlethwaite also opened the RAAF Darwin solar farm, and both projects are part of the federal government’s $64m Defence Renewable Energy and Energy Security Program.
He said these developments showed “the Northern Territory has the capacity to deliver important, big renewable energy projects such as this”.
Mr Thistlethwaite also labelled China “irresponsible” after one of its fighter jets detonated a flare over an Australian Defence Force helicopter on Saturday.
The incident occurred in the South China Sea during a freedom of navigation exercise.
“We want, as best we can, to ensure peace and stability in the region, and to do that, we need to make sure our sea lanes and international waters are free and international law is upheld,” he said.
“That is what Australia is doing as part of the international force that maintains those sea lanes.”
Last week, Mr Gosling, a former army commando and parachutist, wrote that the Territory’s “northern bases” would play a crucial role in conflict by “helping the ADF to recover from an attack and strike back at the enemy”.
He pointed to infrastructure upgrades totalling $3.8 billion, as well as up to a further $18 billion earmarked in the 2024 National Defence Strategy as underscoring the Territory’s military importance.
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