Located in Port Augusta, the hybrid solar-wind project is being built with an investment of $361m
Iberdrola begins construction of hybrid project in Australia. (Credit: Pixabay/Erich Westendarp.)
Iberdrola has broken ground on a hybrid solar-wind project with a combined capacity of 317MW in Port Augusta, South Australia.
Expected to be commissioned next year, the hybrid solar-wind project includes a 210MW of wind and 107MW of solar.
Being built at a total cost of A$500m ($361m), the hybrid project will create nearly 200 jobs during the construction phase.
The project will involve global, Australian and Spanish suppliers. Vestas has been selected to supply 50 of its 4.2MW turbines and Longi was selected to supply 250,000 photovoltaic (PV) panels for the project.
The hybrid solar-wind project to power 180,000 homes every year
Elecnor was selected to build storage areas, access roads along with delivering export transmission line, the substation and balance of plant of the wind farm. Sterling & Wilson will be responsible for building the solar farm.
The project will generate enough clean energy to power 180,000 homes annually.
For Iberdrola, this is the first renewable energy project since the acquisition of Infigen Energy, one of the country’s key developers of renewable projects.
Following acquisition of Infigen, Australia has become a major growth platform for the Spanish energy giant. It has also become one of the major players in the Australian market, where it operates over 800MW in owned and contracted solar, wind and battery storage projects along with 453MW under construction. The firm also has a project pipeline of 1GW under different development stages.
The ground-breaking event at Port Augusta was attended by Iberdrola Country Manager, Fernando Santamaría, South Australian Premier Steven Marshall and Minister for Energy and Mining Dan van Holst Pellekaan.
Santamaria said: “The company’s commitment to the Australian market while continuing to bet on clean energies as a way out of the current crisis caused by the pandemic.”