Global renewable energy developer, operator and distributor, BayWa r.e. has announced that its 106 MW solar farm in Australia has been successfully connected to the grid. The construction of the 630-acre Yatpool solar farm in North Victoria was completed in late 2019. With 350,000 solar PV panels, the site is capable of generating enough renewable electricity to power around 40,000 homes.
At its peak construction, the project created employment for 270 people. To overcome the restrictions by the ongoing pandemic, BayWa r.e. implemented reduced and smaller working teams, with almost all the commissioning being undertaken remotely via VPN connection. Australia is an important market for BayWa r.e. and this project is in line with the country’s target to have a 41 per cent share of renewable energy by 2030.
“Yatpool took just 10 months to be built, however there was an 18-month delay between the end of construction and final commissioning. These delays were driven by complicated grid congestion challenges in the North West Murray region of the National Electricity Market grid. Challenges I’m pleased to say we were able to overcome to get the site connected,” said Fleur Yaxley, Managing Director, BayWa r.e. Projects Australia Pty Ltd.
Daniel Gaefke, APAC Director at BayWa r.e., commented, “Yatpool Solar Farm was built over a period when there was a lot of change in the Australian renewables sector. However, the project team overcame all of the challenges and showed what can be achieved when the sector works towards a common goal. We see such great potential in Australia and are keen to demonstrate just how achievable Net Zero is.”
