A $700 million renewable energy project has cleared a planning hurdle, set to be global player Trina Solar’s second Western Australian asset.
A $700 million renewable energy project has cleared a planning hurdle, set to be global player Trina Solar’s second Western Australian asset.
Trina Solar is set to build a 400-megawatt solar farm, a 1.6-gigawatt battery energy storage system and a substation in the state’s Mid West, after the Regional Development Assessment Panel’s unanimous approval today.
At its meeting today, the panel backed the project, which will be built on a 1,400-hectare property along Turkey Flat Road in Kadathinni.
“It’s a significant and important infrastructure development for the state to achieve its renewable energy targets,” DAP deputy presiding member Eugene Koltasz said.
Element Advisory associate Renee Young, on behalf of Trina Solar, said this was the Shanghai-listed solar technology company’s second major application in WA after proposing a $400 million battery in Kemerton.
“This [Kadathinni] site is situated on a parcel of land with 330kW Western Power lines through it for easy access,” she said.
“The site’s been carefully selected… reports demonstrate it’s suitable in terms of noise, transport, and vegetation.”
The proposed solar array will comprise of 680,000 panels to cover about 600 hectares of the project site, according to the DAP report.
At the DAP meeting, Trina Solar national business development manager Edward Wang estimated 400,000 households would benefit from the solar farm.
Other features of the development include an administration building, storage and maintenance spaces, and water tanks.
“The very first solar farm in the Shire of Three Springs that went to the DAP, there was a degree of uncertainty,” the shire’s planning adviser Simon Lancaster said.
“Now it’s become commonplace.”
Trina Solar’s Kemerton proposal comprises 800 battery cabinets with a total capacity of 660MW.
Estimated to cost $400 million, the Kemerton battery application has been lodged with the Shire of Harvey.
