The Aldoga Solar Farm Project is a solar farm to be located in Aldoga – approximately 20 kilometres north-west of Gladstone, in Central Queensland. The expected capacity of the farm is 380 megawatts. 100 per cent of the electricity generated from the Aldoga Solar Farm will be supplied to Queensland’s Stanwell Corporation to power the proposed Central Queensland Hydrogen (CQ-H2) Project.
The scope of the project comprises the delivery of:
- solar photovoltaic (PV) modules
- module mounting/tracking systems
- inverters
- a step-up transformer
- an onsite sub-station
- access tracks
- underground cabling and monitoring equipment, and
- an overhead transmission line to the nearby Larcom Creek Terminal Station.
Key Dates
| Apr 2018 | Project Announcement |
| Mar 2024 | Construction Commencement |
| 2025 | Expected Construction Completion |
| Jun 2026 | Expected Operations/Service Commencement |
Procurement
| Procuring Agency: | ACCIONA |
| Procurement note: | The project is procuring $150 million in work from local companies. |
PROJECT HISTORY
| Apr 2018 | Economic Development Queensland selected ACCIONA through a competitive procurement process to develop, finance, construct and operate the solar farm through a 30-year land lease agreement. |
| May 2019 | Queensland Coordinator-General approved the initial development application for the Project. |
| Feb 2020 | Economic Development Queensland approved a variation to ACCIONA’s lease, to allow them to investigate renewable hydrogen production as part of the project. The variation allowed an additional 24 months to explore feasibility. |
| Nov 2020 | On 27 November 2020, ACCIONA submitted a State Development Application (SDA) MCU to the Coordinator General, Department of State Development of Tourism and Innovation (DSDTI) to facilitate the development of a larger solar farm that utilises additional land. This will allow for the additional solar photovoltaic capacity to increase from 250MWAC to 480 MW. |
| Jul 2021 | The Queensland Government approved a Material Change of Use application put forward by ACCIONA Energia to expand Aldoga Solar Farm. The approval enabled an increase in the peak generation capacity of the proposed facility from 480 MW to 600 MW, and the total estimated cost of the project to $550 million. This approval also enabled the project site to expand, and to include an area surrounding Larcom Creek Terminal Station in Gladstone, in addition to the area assigned in 2019. |
| Dec 2021 | ACCIONA and government-owned Stanwell Corporation signed a Memorandum of Understanding for for future energy supply via a direct connection between Aldoga photovoltaic plant and the Stanwell-led CQ-H2 consortium’s proposed large-scale green hydrogen electrolysis facility. |
| 2022 | ACCIONA announces that while the Stanwell provision of energy was originally envisaged as a direct energy supply agreement, the project has been revised to connect directly into the existing on-site Larcom Creek Terminal Substation. With the decision to connect directly into the electricity grid and development revisions Acciona settled on the energy output size for the project at 445MWp. |
| Dec 2023 | The Queensland Government announced construction would commence on the project in early 2024. |
| Mar 2024 | ACCIONA announced the commencement of construction on the Aldoga Solar Farm. It is expected to be completed by mid-2025 and operational by mid-2026. |
Estimated Total Cost
(2021)
Sector
Energy
Procurement approach
Unconfirmed |
Location
Queensland |
Resources
