AGL has just announced that it will go ahead with two solar projects in New South Wales (NSW) totalling 155MW’s. The one project alone will be 102MW’s and is to be built in Nyngan – this will become the Southern Hemisphere’s largest solar project.

The second project is to be 53MW built in Broken Hill in NSW. The two projects are costing $450 million dollars to build and have already secured some government funding. $166.7 million is coming from the Federal Government and another $64.9 million coming from State funds.

AGL will be using the largest solar panel manufacturer in the US, First Solar, for the construction of both projects. They will provide engineering, construction and components for both projects. First Solar will also manage both plants for the first five years of production.

Nyngan’s 102MW plant is due to start construction in January 2014 and be finished by mid 2015 while Broken Hill’s project is set to start in July 2014 and be completed in November 2015. Once completed, the two plants will produce around 155 megawatts of power – enough to power almost 49 000 homes. NSW is heavily reliant on ‘dirty energy’ and has one of the highest per capita pollution rates.

“Solar PV in Australia has come a long way from being a small-scale industry in a relatively short time frame,” said AGL managing director Michael Fraser.

The Australian Solar Council’s Chief Executive, John Grimes, believes that these projects will help spur on local investors in the large-scale solar industry. He hoped it would help bridge the financial and political gap and create more opportunity. He said, “This is an important milestone for big solar in Australia.”