Large-scale commercial solar is beginning to make headway in Australia. Zinc metals producer Sun Metals has announced it will build a 100MW solar PV plant to support its refinery located near Townsville, northern Queensland.
The project already marks the largest commitment to renewable energy by a major Australian company, and it may increase in size to 116MW. The decision flies in the face of widespread political and media rhetoric that adopting renewable energy will be the death of manufacturing in Australia.
Sun Metals says the $155 million solar project forms a key part of its plans to expand the output of the refinery by 25 percent. The firm plans to invest $460 million in the upgrade, according to the Townsville Bulletin. The project will create 250 jobs.
“That Sun Metals has decided to develop its own large PV array to supply its operations demonstrates that its CEO has a clear understanding of the opportunities distributed generation and storage is presenting not only to the grid but also to industrial electricity consumers.”
Work on the Sun Metals solar project will begin immediately. Construction is set to get underway in April, and the company expects to finish the project in Q1 2018.
See the full article at Renew Economy.