Spark Renewables was granted environmental approval for its planned Dinawan solar farm in New South Wales.
The decision was made under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act and greenlights Spark’s plans to construct, operate, and eventually decommission the large-scale solar photovoltaic facility and battery storage system.
Located between Coleambally and Jerilderie within the Murrumbidgee local government area, the project sits within the state’s South-West Renewable Energy Zone (REZ).
Once complete, the development will boast a generation capacity of up to 1,000 megawatts, enough to power approximately 380,000 NSW homes annually.
It will be paired with a 300-megawatt battery energy storage system capable of dispatching four hours of continuous electricity (1,200 megawatt-hours) to support the reliability and stability of the National Electricity Market.
The project layout features roughly 1.5 million solar modules mounted on single-axis tracking systems spanning a 2,600-hectare footprint.
A further 1,200 hectares within the broader site have been designated as a strict avoidance zone to preserve local biodiversity, threatened ecological communities, and critical wildlife habitats.
Project assessments indicate that around 70 per cent of the solar farm’s footprint will experience only indirect impacts, such as partial shading.
The solar farm will connect directly to Transgrid’s network via an overhead transmission line linking to the nearby proposed Dinawan Substation, which is being delivered under the separate Project EnergyConnect initiative.
The project is expected to drive significant economic growth in the Riverina region, creating approximately 150 jobs on-site during peak construction, alongside 10 permanent, full-time positions once operational.
Project construction is expected to commence in 2025, subject to relevant approvals, and take approximately 18–24 months to complete. The project is expected to be commissioned in 2026.
The facility has a projected lifespan of up to 30 years, after which the site will either be re-powered or fully decommissioned and rehabilitated back to its pre-existing agricultural use.