Major NSW solar farm resumes operation after being hit by large grass fire
One of Australia's biggest solar farms says it has returned to 90 per cent capacity after a grass fire spread across 87 hectares during extreme hot weather.
One of Australia’s biggest solar farms that was caught fire on Saturday amid thunderstorms and heatwave conditions across NSW, is back to operating at about 90 per cent capacity.
A grass fire broke out at Lightsource bp’s 400 megawatt Wellington North solar farm, 50 kilometres from Dubbo, on Saturday and spread across an 87 hectare area, according to the NSW Rural Fire Service.
Footage posted on social media on Saturday showed thick smoke blanketing the rural area with Dubbo Regional Council deputy mayor Phil Toynton saying he was concerned over the environmental damage from the blaze.
“It stinks. I won’t stick around here long,” Mr Toynton said on Facebook. “Unbelievable.”
While the fire was brought under control, operator Lightsource bp said it was still assessing damage to the site.
“Teams are continuing to work to understand the cause and assess any remaining impacts,” a spokesman said on Monday.
“Assessments are ongoing, but damage is limited to the north-east corner of the site. At this stage, no damage is expected to major equipment. The site is currently operating at around 90 per cent capacity and is expected to be fully operational shortly.
“The incident has been fully contained, with no ongoing fire activity.”
The 400MW Wellington North solar farm, which uses 1.2 million solar panels, sits alongside the Wellington solar hub, which combined provides 600MW of power ranking it as the one of the largest renewable projects in the state.
“The site remains safe, with teams continuing precautionary monitoring to ensure no further risks.”
On Sunday the company said its incident response protocols were activated immediately.
The area has been touted as an example of renewables and agriculture co-existing with The Australian previously reporting some 1700 merino sheep grazed under hundreds of hectares of solar panels at the site.
The broader Central-West Orana renewable energy zone is expected to cost more than $5.5bn compared with the original $650m estimate when it was planned as a smaller development, adding to the bulging national bill for delivering the shift to green electricity.
NSW’s EnergyCo says the REZ takes in cities and towns including Dubbo, Dunedoo and Mudgee and will deliver 4.5 gigawatts of network capacity, to support up to 7.7GW of new generation from solar, wind and energy storage projects.
The original development was expected to unlock 3GW of capacity.
The project is expected to drive up to $20bn in private investment in solar, wind, and energy storage projects, supporting about 5000 jobs during peak construction.
The Central-West Orana REZ will be the first of the planned five in the state with NSW intending to establish 12GW of renewable energy projects and 2GW of storage, including large-scale batteries.
Each will need transmission lines to connect them to the main grid, but the Australian Energy Market Operator has said bolstering the amount of renewable energy will help lower wholesale electricity prices.
Last week the country’s energy market rule maker warned households could face a 13 per cent jump in electricity prices early next decade unless the rollouts of renewable energy, battery storage and transmission are accelerated.
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