X-ELIO is celebrating the launch of its Blue Grass Solar Farm, located in Queensland’s Western Downs, 14km from Chinchilla.
The 200MW solar farm is one of Queensland’s 50 large-scale renewable projects and will help support the state government’s Renewable Energy Target (QRET) to generate 70% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2032, and 80% by 2035, which was recently announced as part of The Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan.
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The farm is expected to deliver 420GWh green energy annually, offsetting more than 320,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions and powering 80,000 home across the state. Four hundred local jobs were created during the solar farm’s two-year construction, with the project delivering a more than $200 million investment in the state of Queensland.
Blue Grass Solar Farm leverages advanced technology including 375,000 bifacial solar panels and half-cut cells, enhancing performance and efficiency to help decrease the cost of solar and support Australia’s 2050 net zero ambitions.
The project’s construction and grid connection was supported by first-tier renewable and transmission specialists, including Gransolar Group (GRS), Ingeteam and Powerlink.
It received financial backing from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), ING, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), and has established long-term support from first-tier offtakers Salesforce, Stanwell Corporation and Australia’s only 1.5 ℃ electricity retailer, ZEN Energy.
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Four local community initiatives will also be awarded with funding at the event from the Blue Grass Community Support and Benefit Sharing Fund, which allocates a percentage of the project’s income to local community projects.
Stanwell Corporation CEO Michael O’Rourke said, “Stanwell’s offtake agreement with Blue Grass Solar Farm will enable us to provide clean, renewable energy to our customers, who are increasingly seeking clean energy solutions to meet their own decarbonisation requirements.”
