CleanPeak chief executive Philip Graham, Noel Milgate, Gavin Milgate, Aunty Vicki and Murray River Council Mayor John Harvie officially opened the farm with a ribbon cutting.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
After eight months of construction, the Moama Solar Farm was officially opened on Thursday, April 3.
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The building project started last year in late August and is one of four solar farms being built by Clean Peak energy in NSW.
During the opening ceremony Aunty Vicki Walker led the group in a Welcome to Country.
Aunty Vicki Walker opened the ceremony with a welcome to country.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
Murray River Council Mayor John Harvie and CleanPeak chief executive Philip Graham then shared some words about the project.
Mr Graham said the solar farm will benefit Moama.
“The solar farm itself has more than 12,000 panels, so it’s not a massive solar farm,” he said.
“We build smaller, distributed solar farms like this and try and put them in a place that makes sense, and then we connect them to the distribution system so it’s powering Moama rather than taking it all the way somewhere else.
“We’ve got power now, so we’re pumping out power now, as we speak, so it’d be great to power a new community building or something like that from the solar farm.”
CleanPeak chief executive Philip Graham attended the opening of the new site.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
The project is part of the $48 million Green Product Purchase Agreement between CleanPeak Energy and Infrastrucure NSW to offset emissions at Sydney’s Barangaroo Precinct.
The solar farm is expected to generate 15 gigawatts of green energy annually, the equivalent to powering 3000 Australian homes or taking 2000 fuel-burning cars off the road.
Regardless of whether Barangaroo tenants use green energy, they will be able to support renewable energy through renewable energy certificates covered through the 25-year deal between the NSW Government and CleanPeak.
The Moama Solar Farm features over 12,000 panels.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
Mr Graham said he hopes this project is only the beginning of a long partnership between the company and Moama.
“We’re going to be here for 40 years. We’ll be here for a long time, and it’ll be great to have a relationship with the council going forward,” he said.
“One of the things we committed to was local contact in our development ... so we’re looking to do as much as we can for regional NSW operations.”
Murray River Council councillors and members of the CleanPeak energy team were all present at the opening ceremony.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
Throughout construction, CleanPeak prioritised supporting regional businesses including the initial fencing by Australasian fencing, civil works by Northern Constructions Group and wiring by Cobram Electrical and Data.
Between 50 to 60 CleanPeak employees were also deployed and living in Echuca Moama throughout the construction.
The land on which the solar farm was built was leased from local Gavin Milgate whose family has owned the land for generations.
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