AGL Energy Limited (AGL) is encouraging community members to attend this week’s Nyngan Solar Plant Community Consultative Committee (CCC) meeting to learn more about the project as it nears important milestones.

AGL’s Nyngagn Solar Plant Project Manager, Adam Mackett says AGL is excited about how the project is progressing. “The Nyngan Solar Plant is on track for some important milestones. The first 17,000 of the 150,000 steel support posts for the solar panels have been installed in the last month.

“The first 38,000 of the 1,350,000 solar panels are scheduled to be delivered by 12 semi-trailers during the second week of June. All going well, the solar panel installations will start in the next few months.

Currently, of the 78 people working on the project almost half (37) are from the local Nyngan area. At the height of construction, some 250 people will be employed on site.

The 102 MW Nyngan Solar Plant together with the 53 MW Broken Hill Solar Plant, both located in western NSW and worth a total of $440 million, will be Australia’s largest utility-scale solar projects. The Nyngan plant is expected to be completed by June 2015. The Broken Hill plant is scheduled to begin construction in July, with an estimated completion date of November 2015.

AGL will deliver the two solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants in partnership with the Federal Government’s Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), the NSW Government, local councils, local communities, and project partner First Solar.

The Nyngan Solar Plant CCC meeting will be held at the CWA hall in Nyngan on Wedesday, 4 June, 2014 from 6pm.

Also, the first round of AGL’s Nyngan Community Fund has just closed with a good response of applications. These applications will now be reviewed by the Community Fund Panel over the next few months and their recommendations will be forwarded to AGL for approval.

“With our Community Grants Fund we aim to deliver community-wide benefits by encouraging local community innovation and support for issues of community significance. Through this we hope we can help make a difference to the local community,” Mr Mackett said.

About AGL

AGL is one of Australia's leading integrated renewable energy companies and is taking action toward creating a sustainable energy future for our investors, communities and customers. Drawing on over 175 years of experience, AGL operates retail and merchant energy businesses, power generation assets and an upstream gas portfolio. AGL has one of Australia's largest retail energy and dual fuel customer bases. AGL has a diverse power generation portfolio including base, peaking and intermediate generation plants, spread across traditional thermal generation as well as renewable sources including hydro, wind, landfill gas and biomass. AGL is Australia's largest private owner and operator of renewable energy assets and is looking to further expand this position by exploring a suite of low emission and renewable energy generation development opportunities.

About the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)

ARENA was established by the Australian Government as an independent authority to make renewable energy technologies more affordable and increase the amount of renewable energy used in Australia. ARENA is funded to 2022 to invest in renewable energy projects, support research and development activities, and increase industry and community knowledge about renewable energy.

About NSW Government support for renewable energy

The NSW Government supports the development and uptake of the renewable energy in the state. The NSW Renewable Energy Action Plan will be the main driver for increasing the uptake of renewable energy in the state. The plan’s three goals and 24 actions will guide NSW’s renewable energy development and support the national target of achieving 20% electricity from renewable sources by 2020 at least cost to the energy customer and with maximum benefits to NSW.

The NSW Regional Clean Energy Program (RCEP) and the Renewable Energy Advocate will work closely with NSW communities and the renewable energy industry to facilitate the development of renewable energy projects, increase renewable energy generation in NSW and help remove barriers and promote investment in renewable energy.