A Perdaman-backed solar farm looks set to become the foundation tenant of a traditional owner-backed green energy park near Karratha.
The soon-to-be urea manufacturer led by Rich 100 member Vikas Rambal on Wednesday revealed it hoped to have a 50-megawatt solar farm at Ngarluma Aboriginal Corporation’s proposed Ngarluma Green Energy Park up and running next year.
The farm would feed power to a transmission corridor between the Maitland Strategic Industrial Area and the Burrup Peninsula, where Perdaman’s Project Ceres urea plant is under construction.
It is hoped the solar farm would be operating by the end of 2027.
Perdaman was allocated the land in 2023 at what was then known as the Maitland Strategic Industrial Area.
Mr Rambal said he shared NAC’s vision of turning Karratha into a global renewable energy hub.
As part of that, Perdaman is also progressing the $3b Project Helios, which would power its $6.4b urea plant with renewable energy.
The Ngarluma Green Energy Park meanwhile was touted late last year as having space to host up to 5 gigawatts of renewable power projects.
Ngarluma Aboriginal Corporation would act as the landlord of the precinct, with tenants paying to lease space in exchange for fast-tracked project approvals.
NAC director Belinda Churnside said the park would enable fast and straightforward development of large renewable projects.
“It is 100 per cent owned and operated by NAC for the benefit of Ngarluma people,” she said.
“We very much appreciate the support and partnership we have with Perdaman and the state to help NAC activate the first Green Energy Park as soon as 2027.”
Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said the deal would create jobs and support the state’s aspiration to become a renewable energy powerhouse.
The state government chipped in $2.7m last year to support surveys and approvals to bring the park to life in the next 12 months.
Fortescue, Yara, and NH3 Clean Energy were other tenants signed on for the estate in 2023.
Woodside has a 500MW project earmarked for nearby land too, for which a final decision has been delayed since 2023.
The state not been so successful at other industrial estates in the Pilbara, where land use agreements with traditional owners are yet to be signed despite having already offered land to proponents.
While Ngarluma country itself does not contain much heavy industry aside from Rio Tinto’s Cape Lambert port, it sits between the inland mines and Murujuga, where major port and processing infrastructure is based on Yaburara country.
NAC has long sought a major project deal to support the financial and self-determination aspirations of its people.
Previous efforts have revolved around the stalled multi-user Anketell and Balla Balla ports.
The corporation’s current major interest is the 150-gigalitre Ngarluma Water desalination project halfway between Karratha and Port Hedland.
