News & Events
News & Events
Updates
Recent site inspection prior to racking and panel installation, L to R: Peter Fraser, Gerald Arends (Komo Energy), Ed Suttle, Louise Bennetts, Mhairi Fraser.
October 2025
Divalls Earthmoving have completed all stage two civil works on the site, including levelling, spraying, seeding, sediment control and contouring, and enlarging the sediment pond.
Smart Commercial have finalised installing the racking and panels. The cement pads for the battery and the inverter/transformer skid have cured and the inverter / transformer skid and the battery have been craned into place.
Newly installed panels. Note the back of the panels can now receive reflected energy.
Bigger battery.
The original budget was for a 850 kWh battery. This was increased to 2.3MWh after we raised an additional $600,000. Trina have now advised that the 2.3 MWh battery is no longer in production and have offered a larger 4.07 MWh battery at an additional charge. This will increase revenue from the battery in the late afternoon / evening and significantly improve revenue and profit! Our development partner, Komo energy, has estimated the internal rate of return will rise from approximately 3% to 6%.
The board has approved the purchase of this larger battery, which has now been installed . We have now raised the full cost of the new battery. It’s a fantastic testament to the commitment of this community to renewables and resilience.
Trina has now upgraded the size of the panels from 605W to 620W at a small additional charge. This will increase output by about 1.5-2%.
Transformer skid being craned into place.
Up goes the racking!
In goes the 30 tonne 4.07MWh battery!
Last year’s milestones
Here are some milestones reached through 2024 :
- Civil works stage 1 completed
- Our target of $2.7M has been met and surpassed
- Lengthy negotiations with council regarding conditions for the construction certificate finalised.
- Appointment of a new treasurer following the untimely death of Gretchen Alt-Cooper
- Numerous media appearances including video for The New Joneses.
- Successful AGM held in November
- Trina Solar closen to supply racking, panels and battery.
Thank you for your faith in this project Goulburn, (and others in surrounding areas) we are so proud to call this project ours..
We’ve registered over 300 members and issued share certificates to our investors.
We’ve met our milestones with the NSW Goverment department responsible for the grant.
THE NEXT STEPS:
- Low voltage electrical works finalised.
- High voltage electrical connection to the grid completed.
- Testing and commissioning by Essential Energy to commence early December.
Media Releases
AGM guest speaker Dr Rebecca Colvin talks about community attitudes to renewables. More HERE
How we did it!
Our story
“Can we build a community solar farm in our region?”
That’s the question we are most often asked! The answer depends on many variables not just technical feasibility. Here are further questions to consider.
- Has your group delivered good quality community projects in your region? We were able to leverage off ten years of community projects so trust and credibility were already established with government and community.
- Do you have a solid data base? We had built a data base of over 1500 names and email addresses of regional people who had expressed some kind of interest in renewables.
- Do you have a large enough community to pull it off? We think a minimum of 20,000 locals is needed to raise funding and provide the social and intellectual capital you will need.
- Do you have a dedicated committee who can stay the course for the long term – possibly 10 years? Several of the founders of our project worked on the project for 12+ years.
- Are you dependent on a government grant? Explore all options including loans. Government grants of a significant size involve arduous reporting and the capacity to deal with things like public servant turnover and systems that are highly risk averse.
- Do you have the ability and credibility to co-opt valuable, skilled and well-connected people to serve on a board for the medium to long term?
And on a technical level:
- Do you have access to a large enough piece of land – at least 3 – 4 hectares and preferably square north facing with a direct connection to the grid?
- Are you prepared to add a battery? Otherwise you will need a very large solar farm to be profitable.
Sharing the Knowledge
If you can answer these questions positively, then read how we did it – warts and all!
Get in Touch
Make an enquiry or ask us any questions you might have.