European Energy has won planning approval for the Upper Calliope solar farm, a 1.1-gigawatt (GW) project located near Gladstone in Queensland, Australia.
The approval is said to lower development risk and move the project closer to investment readiness.
The solar farm’s entire output is backed by a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with mining major Rio Tinto providing long term revenue certainty and supporting the project’s commercial framework.
With the planning approval in place, European Energy can proceed to final design, grid connection activities, conducting procurement, reaching final investment decisions (FID) and construction planning.
The project is described as a permitted, utility-scale solar asset situated in a major industrial energy hub.
European Energy Australia vice president and country manager Catriona McLeod said: “With planning approval now in place, we can move ahead with the Upper Calliope project – one of the largest projects European Energy has undertaken to date. It’s an exciting and important step and our experienced team will now move on to the next phase of development.”
Electricity from the Upper Calliope solar farm is planned to power Rio Tinto’s Queensland operations, notably its aluminium smelters and alumina refineries around Gladstone.
The site is close to existing transmission lines and a long-standing industrial load centre.
European Energy executive vice president and head of project development Thorvald Spanggaard said: “Securing planning approval materially advances the Upper Calliope project and reduces execution risk.
“Together with the long-term contracted offtake, the project now represents a permitted, utility-scale solar asset with defined revenue characteristics – one of the largest of its kind.”
European Energy is moving forward with renewable energy projects in Australia and around the world.
The company is also assessing various ownership and partnership arrangements.
Earlier this month, European Energy secured contracts for difference (CfD) tariffs from the Italian energy agency, GSE, for five utility-scale solar projects totalling 513MW.
