Acciona Energía, a subsidiary of Spanish utility Acciona, is set to commence construction on the 380MW Aldoga solar farm in Queensland, Australia, in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024.
Costing A$500m ($333.7m), the plant will be completed in 2025.
The Aldoga solar farm will be 20km north-west of Gladstone on the central Queensland coast. 350 jobs will created during the project’s 18-month construction phase and 10 once it is operational.
The facility will produce enough clean power for 185,000 households and contribute to 934,000 tonnes of carbon savings annually.
This will facilitate the Queensland government’s goal of 50% renewable power by 2030 and 70% by 2032.
Acciona is building Aldoga on land belonging to Economic Development Queensland (EDQ), the Queensland government’s land use planning and property development agency.
Acciona has leased the land from EDQ for 30 years.
This project is being developed under EDQ’s "Advancing our cities and regions" strategy, to renew and repurpose underused state land, creating jobs and supporting economic growth.
The output from the solar farm will be sold under a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to Queensland’s state-owned energy company Stanwell.
Stanwell will use the electricity for its Central Queensland Hydrogen project, a green hydrogen scheme to begin operations in 2028.
When the PPA was announced, Acciona Energía managing director Brett Wickham stated: “Queensland is one of ACCIONA Energia’s preferred destinations for investment. In the global competition for energy projects, Queensland stands tall with a highly skilled workforce and good regulatory processes, held together by a well-thought-out energy and jobs plan.”
“Queensland’s energy transition is well underway. With 100% of the power from ACCIONA Energia’s Aldoga solar farm supplied to Stanwell, we’re helping to reduce power prices and carbon emissions across the Sunshine State.”
The PPA between Acciona and Stanwell follows 2022’s PPA to supply renewable energy from the 923MW MacIntyre wind farm, the construction of which began in May of that year.
