Pilot Energy has gained planning approval for its solar farm in the Mid West, where it also plans to build ammonia and carbon capture projects.
Pilot Energy’s ambitious plan for a solar farm in the Mid West, to be built in tandem with ammonia and carbon capture projects, has been approved at a regional joint development assessment panel meeting today.
The energy company has proposed a 376-megawatt solar farm comprising more than 600,000 panels across 530 hectares, at a cost of $440 million.
The project is designed to power Pilot Energy’s proposed ammonia project.
The company is also planning a carbon cature and storage project utilising the Cliff Head offshore oil field, in which it has a minority stake.
It signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with South Korea's Samsung Engineering last October for both the ammonia project and the CCS project.
Pilot has recently undertaken two small capital raisings to help fund work on the projects after ending 2023 with $2.1 million in cash.
The solar farm is expected to generate up to 60 jobs during the construction phase, and employ up to six full-time employees.
The original proposal had workers accommodation on site, but that has been removed and is expected to be built in the town of Three Springs.
Green Fuel Development director Rowan Logie said the development was a larger iteration of a project that had been approved six years ago at a JDAP.
He said with ASX-listed Pilot Energy backing the project, it was able to proceed in a larger form.
Pilot’s Mid West ammonia plant is set to be the state’s first “carbon sink”, in that its production does not emit any carbon.
Mr Logie said the proponent moved the workers’ accommodation to the town after consulting the Shire, in a bid to drive economic development in the area.
Additionally, the solar farm is being positioned as a tourist destination, and is set to include the “southern hemisphere’s largest sundial” which visitors could view.
Mr Logie described the development as a “procurement exercise for Pilot Energy’s [ammonia] processing plant” rather than solely to feed into the grid.
However, Pilot’s proposal include a 330 kilovolt grid connection to the South West Interconnected System, via its own substation.
“The thing about large solar is we don’t really need it on the SWIS, because we have so much rooftop solar, this is a bit unique as it’s being specifically built [for the ammonia plant],” Mr Logie said.
In supporting the proposal, Regional JDAP presiding member Tony Arias acknowledged that there were some issues that needed to be addressed, but the proponent has committed to doing so.
Among these conditions are an updated bushfire management plan for the site.
The proposal was supported unanimously.
