Equis gets approval to develop 1000MW Wandoan South Solar Project

The project will need US$1.2b capital investment.

Equis Energy has received approval from the Western Downs Regional Council in Queensland, Australia to develop the 1,000 MW Wandoan South Solar Project (WSSP), one of the largest solar projects in Australia and the world.

WSSP will involve a capital investment of approximately A$1.5 billion, with a significant amount to be spent locally. Construction of the project is expected to begin in 2018, and to begin delivering power in 2019.

The project, covering 1,424 hectares of land, will be connected to Powerlink’s Wandoan South substation, and will have the ability to add battery storage when commercially feasible. This will allow energy to be stored and will facilitate the generation of power into the evening.

WSSP brings to 1,276 MW the total generation capacity for which Equis has received approval in Australia, involving an aggregate investment cost of A$1.9 billion, positioning Equis as one of the country’s largest and lowest cost solar developers.

The WSSP project will incorporate up to 3 million solar PV panels and have a generation output of approximately 1,800,000 megawatt hours per year (MWh/year), collectively supplying power equivalent to the annual needs of 255,000 homes, and saving over 1. 7 million tonnes of CO2 annually compared to same generation from coal-fired power.