A couple from Queensland’s Gulf of Carpentaria has built their own $14 million solar farm that’s big enough to power the whole shire.
According to ABC Radio, Doug and Lyn Scouller built the solar farm in order to prove the benefit of decentralising electricity and positioning generation sites at the end of the grid.
Based in Normanton, 500km kilometres north of Mount Isa, the Scoullers built a solar farm big enough to power an area almost twice the size of Tasmania to demonstrate the benefits of positioning power generation sites at the end of the grid.
“We suffer from an unusual amount of blackouts out here. Sometimes I’ve experienced it in Karumba up to 13 times a day … and it’s purely because of the losses,” Mr Scouller told ABC Radio.
“The power actually comes from Rockhampton up the coast to Townsville and up to us, and it’s the old story the longer the extension lead, the less power you get at the end.”
The 16,000-panel, 5MW solar farm produces electricity that’s fed back into the grid at Normanton.
In 2016, the Scouller’s solar farm received an $8.5 million ARENA grant and is now being used as a test case to generate data about fringe-of-grid energy investment.
Calculations made before the plants construction will be compared with new data to determine whether the Scouller’s planned reduction in transmission loss will eventuate.
Building the solar farm was not without its challenges.
In February, a stand-off with Ergon Energy delayed the switch-on of the farm, and Mr Scouller was diagnosed with cancer.
However, the Scoullers’ perseverance paid off, and the couple hosted their wedding celebrations on the same day the farm was fully commissioned.
