Downer has won an estimated $37m contract to design, construct, operate and maintain a 15-megawatt solar farm on the Sunshine Coast. The operate and maintain section of the contract is for 2 years, with Council options to renew for another 3 years.
The Council faced several funding issues, so this marks a major milestone in their goal to become Australia's most sustainable region.
Artist Impression of Valdora solar farm. Source: Solar Choice
The solar farm will be built on 25 hectares of council-owned abandoned cane fields on the Yandina-Coolum Road on a 49-hectare site in an area called Valdora.Not only will it be the largest solar farm in QLD, but it will be the first solar farm in Australia to operate above the 1,000 VDC. It will be built to operate at 1,500 VDC.
Construction is due to start in June 2016 and will involve the installation of more than 57,000PV modules, close to 1,500 support structures and six inverter stations. Some of the civil and structural work includes a control room, medium voltage underground lines, road widening and clearing an access track.
Upon completion, the solar farm will connect into Energex's network and feed power into the QLD grid.
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Source: AEOL