Sunraysia Bannerton Solar Park demonstrates solar benefits for Victoria

From harvesting almonds to harvesting solar energy

Victoria’s Bannerton Solar Park is giving a new lease of life to land no longer suitable for almond production. The 88MW solar development is built on land at Almas Almonds, near Robinvale in the Sunraysia district in Victoria.

The almond farm benefits from leasing the land around its orchards to the solar farm, generating an additional revenue stream for its business. 

The 320,000-panel plant is expected to generate enough power to supply around 30,000 homes with solar energy. A significant proportion of its projected output has been contracted in separate agreements with Alinta Energy and the Victorian Government. 

Grid stability

The Bannerton project is helping build diversity in Victoria's evolving renewable energy mix. It will see the construction of new powerlines to connect the solar farm to the grid.

The project's inverters, which convert the solar DC electricity to AC electricity for export to the network, will also help provide voltage support on the grid, so the project meets requirements for continuous uninterrupted operations in the event of grid faults. 

Investors

The project is being developed by a joint venture between independent global infrastructure and private equity investment manager Foresight Group and Syncline Energy, a Victoria-based developer. 

The CEFC committed ~$98 million in debt finance towards the project, alongside equity from the UK’s Foresight Solar Fund Limited, the Korean Infrastructure Asset Management Company and Korea's Hanwha Energy.