Hazelwood North Solar Farm has been granted planning permit approval for a 450 megawatt capacity solar farm that is set to power approximately 150,000 homes and prevent 700,000 tons of emissions.
The $651 million project will create about 500 construction jobs and would be larger than any solar farm currently operating in the state.
“The approval of the Hazelwood North Solar Farm will strengthen Victoria’s renewable energy industry and provide cheaper, cleaner power to thousands of homes,” said minister for Planning, Sonya Kilkenny.
As part of the construction plan, the site will be bordered by native vegetation landscaping to visually screen the facility from surrounding land.
The project also includes provision for a large 450 megawatt, 4-hour battery energy storage facility that will store cheap solar power during the day and feed it into the grid when needed.
Last year, renewable energy made up 39 per cent of energy capacity because of the 78 new large-scale projects that have been commissioned to date – delivering 5.34 gigawatts of energy.
These projects support Victoria’s nation-leading renewable energy generation targets of 65 per cent by 2030 and 95 per cent by 2035.
These renewable energy targets are supported by energy storage targets of at least 2.6 giga- watts by 2030 and 6.3 gigawatts by 2035.