Cultana Solar Farm is a proposed

solar farm A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building ...

to be constructed north of

Whyalla Whyalla is a city in South Australia. It was founded as Hummock's Hill, and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier, and Gawler, and along ...

by SIMEC Energy Australia (part of the

GFG Alliance GFG Alliance (long name Gupta Family Group Alliance), usually referred to as GFG, is an international group of businesses associated with businessman Sanjeev Gupta and the British Gupta family. , the companies in the group are Liberty Steel Group, ...

). Construction is expected to begin early in 2020 after development approval was granted in May 2019. The contract for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) was let to

Shanghai Electric Shanghai Electric (officially Shanghai Electric Group Company Limited) is a Chinese multinational power generation and electrical equipment manufacturing company headquartered in Shanghai. The company traces its roots to 1880. Shanghai Electri ...

in June 2019 with construction expected to take 12 to 15 months to complete. The site is north of Whyalla, on both sides of the

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is one of the first transcontinental highways in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated Octob ...

. It was to consist of a total of 925,000 solar modules (later changed to 780,000), each 1 x 2 metres and 35 mm thick, mounted in groups of 85 modules in a north–south orientation on single-axis trackers. Each tracker will be 90 metres long, with 3 metre access between them, and a maximum height of four metres. The total area across the two sites is about . The southern site will generate 70 MW at 33 kV and be connected via overhead cables to the northern site which will generate 210 MW and have a 33 kV/275 kV substation connected to

ElectraNet ElectraNet Pty Ltd, trading as ElectraNet, is an electricity transmission company in South Australia. It operates 5,591 km of high-voltage electricity transmission lines in South Australia. ElectraNet is owned by Australian Utilities Pt ...

's Cultana substation. The solar farm will be connected to the

National Electricity Market The National Electricity Market (NEM) is an arrangement in Australia's electricity sector for the connection of the electricity transmission grids of the eastern and southern Australia states and territories to create a cross-state wholesale ele ...

but its primary customer will be the

Whyalla Steelworks The Whyalla Steelworks is a fully integrated steelworks and the only manufacturer of rail in Australia. It produces 75% of all structural steel in Australia. Iron ore is mined in the Middleback Range to feed the steelworks, resulting in the dist ...

which is also owned and operated by members of the GFG Alliance. Cultana Solar Farm will be Shanghai Electric's first project in Australia, and is expected to be Australia's largest solar farm at the time of its completion, with a capacity of 280 MW. A test array of almost 200 panels was installed in late 2019 to provide more detailed information in advance of the main construction phase. The

saltbush Saltbush is a vernacular plant name that most often refers to ''Atriplex'', a genus of about 250 plants distributed worldwide from subtropical to subarctic regions. ''Atriplex'' species are native to Australia, North and South America, and Eurasia. ...

onsite is rolled rather than graded, reducing dust and increasing power output, expected at 600 GWh from the 780,000 solar panels by 2022.

References

Solar power stations in South Australia Proposed solar power stations in Australia Eyre Peninsula {{Australia-powerstation-stub