A CLEAN energy development company leader has vowed to return to the Limestone Coast to identify potential sites for a large-scale solar farm or roof top projects.
CountryWide Energy – which is building a $40m solar farm near Wangaratta – has met with regional councils, politicians, businesses and farmers about potential projects.
The company has also not ruled out canvassing biomass energy projects, such as those fuelled by surplus wood residue.
It is understood a number of farmers also attended the forum to flag interest in attracting a solar farm development on their properties.
The company revealed it would investigate installing a technologically advanced battery storage system if a large solar farm became a reality in the Limestone Coast.
Company director Geoff Drucker said yesterday he was buoyed by the interest shown in the region, which was crying out for power security and affordability.
“We will look at anything that would generate renewable electricity – biomass, pumped hydro and solar,” Mr Drucker said.
He said biomass – fuelled by wood residue – was potentially an exciting project given the scale of these projects in Scandinavian countries.
“We believe one in five projects that we look at will get through,” he said.
Mr Drucker said the company needed to secure affordable land, connection to the power grid, council approval and investment before a project could be given the green light.
“A large-scale solar farm would run into the tens of millions of dollars,” the company official said.
But he said the company had investors who were passionate regarding solar projects in Australia.
“These are overseas and Australian investors – that opportunity is there,” Mr Drucker explained.
Asked about power grid connectivity, he flagged this could be a long process but this could be shortened given there was only one distribution company and one transmission player in South Australia.
“Our goal will look in areas where we can inject energy and it can be connected to the grid to provide growth,” Mr Drucker added.
He said targeting growth regions meant there was a long-term opportunity to sell power into the marketplace.
“If there is no growth, it is a stagnate area,” Mr Drucker said.
“But in the Limestone Coast, there appears to be a lot of enthusiasm about growth.”
He said the political landscape, such as the Federal Government’s commitment to reducing emissions and South Australian Government being a leader in renewable energy, was driving renewable energy projects.
Regarding the possibility of attracting a large-scale solar farm project to the Mount Gambier district, Mr Drucker said the high cost of the land was one major issue.
“The higher the productivity of the land, the more expensive it is,” he said.
He revealed the 20 megawatt farm at Wangaratta was being built on 20ha.
“There are some projects in South Australia that are 100 megawatts and they would be on 250ha,” Mr Drucker said.
But he said the company could roll out large roof-top solar panel installations on agricultural or processing facilities as an alternative.
“This is particularly worthwhile if underneath uses a fair bit of the energy and we can provide that energy directly to the business,” Mr Drucker said.
He revealed the company would canvass individual council areas for potential projects, including talking with landowners and business operators.
“We also have to determine the location and strength of the power network so we can go to SA Power Networks and say to them ‘here is a site, can we inject more energy into the grid’,” Mr Drucker said.
“If they say yes and the land is suitable, then that could happen probably at a minimum of 18 months before power generation.”
Mr Drucker said the company would be interested in speaking with landowners close to significant power lines, not transmission infrastructure.
“We like to focus on solar farms of 30 megawatts or less, which would be connected to distribution lines,” he said.
He said the solar panel farm would also have a sun tracking system.
Regarding gas mining, Mr Drucker said his company was not an advocate of gas expansion and particularly fracking.
“Gas is not a renewable energy source,” he said.
The company is also exploring opportunities in the Riverland as well as Glenelg Shire and Albury-Wodonga in Victoria.
