New developer for Freo solar project

First Solar, the tender winner of a 10MW Western Australian solar farm, has ended its involvement with the project six months after being named sole developer, according to WA Business News.

If completed, the South Fremantle solar power project could be the first largescale solar farm for the region.

Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettit said First Solar had pulled out because of “what it considered limited site capacity and market issues”.

The 19.4ha solar farm site is located on land formerly used as a rubbish dump for more than 60 years. The former landfill plot stopped receiving rubbish in 1991, but is still classified as contaminated and is covered under the Contaminated Sites Act 2003.

The next in line in the original tender process was Sydney-based solar developer, Epuron. The Fremantle Council has now handed the project to Epuron who will take over the project development under the same terms given to First Solar.

Andrew Durran, Director of Epuron told WA Business News that the company is confident of overcoming the challenges. “With a fresh approach we’re confident we can get a solar farm up and running that will not only be commercially viable for us, but will also benefit the local community and the environment,” Mr Durran said.

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