Location important for solar farm

THE community turned up to support the 'sod-turning' and construction commencement event of a 38 megawatt Wangaratta Solar Farm on Friday in North Wang. When finished, the solar farm will see 75,000 gigawatt hours of energy produced per year. CleanPeak Energy founder and CEO Philip Graham said the company's focus is building smaller solar farms that can be sited in the right location. "You have to have land that is close to transmission infrastructure and CleanPeak Energy build solar farms that can fit in the right land," he said. The transition to renewable energy from fossil fuels will require more land for the industry to work with. "We are going to have a big trade-off between landowners, communities and the builders of big solar farms," Mr Graham said. "We all need to come together and work out where the best place is for them and then work together to deliver something that benefits everyone involved. "Our focus is how we can make this a good solar farm, not disturb the community and deliver benefits to local industry and local workers. "I think we are managing that balance, I think the key thing will be how others can do it in the future. "This is the model that we are going to stick to." Mayor Dean Rees and Ovens Valley MP Tim McCurdy were in attendance to officially open the site. Cr Rees said this project shows the Wangaratta community supports solar and renewable energies on appropriately zoned land. "This is the most appropriately zoned land in Wangaratta, it is purposefully zoned for this and will be a great project for the Rural City of Wangaratta and further the community," he said. "We are all for renewables, in the right location and right time, this project certainly fitted the bill. "These are community assets, you have to bring the community on this journey and CleanPeak energy certainly did this I just wish a couple of these other larger companies could take a leaf out of their book and bring the community with them and I'm sure we'll get better outcomes for everybody." A significant amount of energy will be exported to Alpine MDF and surrounding businesses, with a portion of energy being distributed in NSW areas towards Canberra. Mr McCurdy said so often we see solar companies come in step on the community without appropriate consultation processes. "What a difference it makes when you put the right project in the right place," he said. "This is a perfect example of how a renewable project should work. "Dean and I are right on board with renewable projects, as long as it's the right project in the right place and this is one of those. "If communities support a project then it will go through seamlessly but some of the projects we are seeing in the North East are the right projects in the wrong places. "CleanPeak Energy are an example of how to do consultation, how to work with the council and how to work with the community. "We all win out of this project."

Location important for solar farm

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