More than half of the site clearing required for the construction of a solar farm in the Gulf Savannah has been completed, the developer said.
Genex Power is developing the farm at the site of the former Kidston Gold Mine, 270km northwest of Townsville.
The 50 megawatt phase one of the project – to be built on the tailings storage facility from the former mine – will generate 145,000 megawatt hours of electricity per hear from 540,000 solar panels.
This will provide more than 26,484 households with renewable energy, and increase renewable energy in Queensland by 5.5 per cent.
Genex Power managing director Michael Addison said activity on site continued to ramp up with the construction program well underway.
“Genex remains very focused on delivering the project on time and on budget,” Mr Addison said.
“The outlook for wholesale electricity and large-scale generation certificates (LGCs) remains very strong which has the potential to deliver strong early cash flows to Genex”.
The Ergon substation civil works have been completed.
Construction of an access road is underway so too are earthworks for the solar farm substation and O&M platform.
The laydown area for materials storage and component assembly is 70pc complete.
The main transformer for the solar farm substation has been ordered.
Mr Addison said the project remained on budget and on track for first generation in the last quarter of 2017 and practical completion in the first quarter of 2018.