Renewable

January 11 (Renewables Now) - Australian oil and gas major Woodside Energy Ltd on Monday submitted plans for the construction of an up to 500-MW solar farm with battery storage in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

The proposal was filed with the state’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and is now subject to a seven-day public comment period.

The so-called Woodside Solar Facility is planned to be located around 15 km (9.3 miles) southwest of Karratha city, in the Maitland strategic industrial area. Its entire capacity will be installed in phases, starting with a 100-MW plant.

The complex will be equipped with roughly one million photovoltaic (PV) panels and will have battery energy storage infrastructure. The construction of each stage is expected to take between six and nine months.

According to the plan, Woodside intends to supply renewable electricity to industrial customers via existing or new infrastructure of the North West Interconnected System (NWIS), which is owned by government-controlled Horizon Power. The oil and gas group, which is Australia's largest natural gas producer, estimates that each 100 MW of installed capacity will be able to reduce customer electricity emissions by up to 100 tonnes per year.