A major milestone has been reached on Australia’s largest solar farm under construction with the project now able to export more than 100MW of clean energy into the nation’s electricity grid.

When complete, the Western Downs Green Power Hub (WDGPH) will add 400MW of renewable energy into the grid with Queensland Government owned energy generator and retailer CleanCo signed up to take 320MW.

Neoen’s $600 million solar farm is nearing its final stages with testing works underway in collaboration with Powerlink and the Australian Energy Market Operator.

Minister for Energy, Renewables and Hydrogen Mick de Brenni said the solar farm, the largest of its kind in Australia, will be able to generate power for a region the size of Logan and Redlands combined.

“And is a major step forward for Queensland’s pursuit to create more jobs in more industries.

“The project has already delivered more than 450 construction jobs.

“It’s estimated the ongoing economic benefit of this new solar farm will be around $32 million per year for the Queensland economy,” he said.

Connection works for the project were completed by Powerlink late last year including the addition of six kilometres of new transmission line and associated works at Powerlink’s existing Western Downs Substation.

The Western Downs Green Power Hub will produce more than 1,080 GWh per year, the equivalent to avoiding 864,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

The project is located 22km south-east of Chinchilla in the Western Downs Region, in close proximity to Powerlink’s transmission network and less than 6kms from the existing Western Downs Substation.