Renewable energy developer ACEN Australia announced the opening of Phase 1 of its New England solar project, located near Uralla in the NSW Government New England Renewable Energy Zone. It is one of Australia’s largest solar projects to participate in the National Electricity Market (NEM).
New England Solar was approved by the NSW Government in 2020 and will be developed in two phases with an estimated total capacity of 936MWdirect current (720MWac). Phase 1 of the project began construction in March 2021 and is nearing completion a million solar panels Furnished.
With the green light for NEM from the Australian Energy Market Organization (AEMO) last December, the project is set to generate solar energy at full rated output of 521 MWdirect current (400MWac) in the following months.
“The event is an important milestone for the energy transition that is underway in NSW and Australia. I firmly believe that the work ACEN Australia is doing to accelerate Australia’s transition to a renewable energy future is here and now – and it starts with New England Solar,” said Anton Rohner, CEO of ACEN Australia.
“We have chosen to build New England Solar entirely on a dealer basis to ensure it is online in time to help replace decommissioned coal-fired power stations in NSW. We wanted to have things built to decarbonize Australia,” added Rohner.
ACEN Australia also took social responsibility into account when developing the project. As part of New England Solar, the company is investing more than A$5 million (US$3.3 million) over the next 25+ years through the Uralla Grants Program to support and encourage resilience, prosperity, sustainability and recreational activities in Uralla. A$200,000 (US$133,730) in grants will already be available upon completion of Phase 1 construction.
ACEN Australia is a wholly owned subsidiary of ACEN, the publicly traded energy platform of the Philippine Ayala Group. The Company has over 1 GW of capacity under construction and over 8 GW of capacity in the development pipeline.