Construction of the Grong Grong Solar Farm near Narrandera is almost completed with new poles installed by HV contractors in preparation for grid connection this month.

This will be an intense period of work for the consultants and contractors, who will ensure everything is in place to complete the solar farm and be ready for connection and commissioning.

Grong Grong Solar Farm project directors Jonathan Prendergast and Gerald Arends said they were presently in the process of finalising the commissioning and energisation timeline in collaboration with Essential Energy.

“Timeline challenges, which run counter to our consultant’s and contractor’s original expectations, are currently being experienced, but we feel safe in the knowledge that we are not the only ones experiencing these challenges,” they said.

An upcoming event in Grong Grong will be held to celebrate the Solar Farm with solar gardeners, seed and crowd equity investors, enthusiasts and stakeholders on Saturday April 27 with a backup date of the following Saturday May 4. More details will be shared once finalised.

November and December 2023 witnessed significant activity on the financial front for the solar farm.

Haystacks Cooperative completed its due diligence and enabled Grong Grong Solar Farm to draw down the $735,000 loan. Additionally, the group fully repaid the construction loan extended by three ‘Impact Investors’.

Part of the financial structure of Grong Grong Solar Farm were two $300,000 loans in the form of convertible notes from one of these ‘Impact Investors’. One of these notes has a seven-year term, while the other matures in 12 months, with repayment due this December.

“We aspire to repay these cunvertible notes as soon as possible, which means that Grong Grong Solar Farm remains open for further investment!” the directors said.

Towards the end of last year the FIMER central solar inverter and DC trunk cables were installed, leaving the DC combiner boxes remaining to be installed.

This has now been completed and the HV works commenced with construction nearing completion. The next steps are the grid connection that requires an outage on the local 11kV Essential Energy line and then the commissioning process.

Construction is mostly complete with the new poles installed by HV contractors in preparation for grid connection.

“We’re thrilled to announce that Grong Grong Solar Farm has officially made its mark, as evidenced by satellite imagery showcasing the three sections of the solar farm – the North-South running trackers, the gate entrance, and the inverter location,” said the project directors. 

This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 7 March 2024.