Located within the ACT about 20km south of Canberra, the 20MW solar farm uses ground mounted, fixed tilt solar panels to generate enough electricity to supply 4,400 Canberra homes each year.

Situated on a 50 hectare site within a 500 hectare sheep farm, it became operational in August 2014 and at the time was the largest operating solar project in Australia.

The project was initiated in 2012 in response to the ACT Government’s Large-scale Solar Auction initiative, which is one aspect of the ACT Government’s Climate Action Plan 2 – resulting in a legislated target that will see the ACT supplied by 90% renewable energy by 2020.

GreenPower Program Manager, Gary Eisner, says:

“It is great to see one of Australia’s largest solar farms achieving GreenPower accreditation, and we trust that Royalla Solar Farm sees significant value in this accreditation.

“The electricity they generate and sell to the ACT is now considered additional to the Commonwealth Government’s Renewable Energy Target (RET), backed by the independence of the GreenPower Program. This is a real boost for Australia’s renewable energy landscape as this means more renewable energy is being added to the grid than otherwise would be the case under RET requirements.

 “Congratulations must also go to the ACT Government on their highly successful solar auction. The auction attracted significant interest from the renewable energy sector and resulted in extremely competitive pricing. It is a fine example of how government policy objectives can readily be met at efficient cost with market based competitive processes, and it was instrumental in the development of the new solar farm.”

In order to become a GreenPower accredited generator, Royalla Solar Farm had to meet the rigorous generator assessment requirements as set out by the GreenPower Program Rules. These Rules require generators to be accredited by the Clean Energy Regulator under the Large-scale Renewable Energy Target scheme (and be able to generate Large-scale Generation Certificates); have satisfied any relevant statutory and licensing requirements, including any environmental and planning approvals; be considered by the Program Manager to have a net environmental benefit and to have conducted appropriate community and stakeholder consultation.