WORK will start next year on a $117-million solar energy project at the Vales Point power station ash dam.
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The 62-megawatt renewable energy facility will be built on an 80-hectare area of rehabilitated land at the coal ash dam off Ruttleys Road, Mannering Park.
The project will see the installation of thousands of solar panels which will generate enough electricity to power 20,000 homes.
The Department of Planning has approved the project which is expected to support 100 jobs over the 18-month construction period.
The project will be one of the first large-scale solar operations in Australia to co-exist with a coal-fired power station.
The project will come to fruition through a partnership between Enernet Global, a distributed energy resources and investment company, and Delta Electricity, who operates the power station.
The parties have signed a power purchase agreement for the sale of 87GWh of energy from the 62MW solar farm.
Enernet Global will finance and build the solar farm, then sell the power to Delta Electricity who will distribute the electricity on the grid ensuring a significant contribution to state and federal government renewable energy targets.
Delta Electricity CEO Greg Everett said it was a trailblazing project.
"The partnership with Enernet recognises that both dispatchable power and low-emission technologies have a role to play in supporting an affordable, reliable and sustainable national electricity grid," Mr Everett said.
"The Vales Point site is an example of how both technologies can be co-located and integrated into the grid."
Construction would start in the second quarter of 2020, he said.
The project would pioneer in Australia a fully-ballasted installation system tailored for use on land where traditional driven or screw piles were not possible, he said.
Enernet Global's president Paul Matthews said delivering the Vales Point project could be just the start.
"This project will lead to many others that can similarly help unlock the potential in such sites to generate sustainable energy and support humanity's climate change response," he said.