The Northam Solar Farm will be located on Ballardong Noongar Boodja (country), on the outskirts of the historic wheatbelt town of Northam approximately 100 km from Perth. The 10MW Northam Solar Farm will consist of 33,600 solar panels and will be constructed over 25 hectares (around 0.25 km2). The solar farm will provide renewable, sustainable, zero emission, electricity, powered by Western Australia’s Wheatbelt sunshine.
The solar farm will deliver enough energy to power approximately 4,000 households (24,000 MWh) every year for the life of the project, and will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17,000 tonnes per year - the equivalent of taking 3,500 cars off the road.
The Northam Solar Farm was granted Development Approval by Northam Shire Council in June 2017, and the owners executed an Electricity Transfer Access Contract with Western Power in August 2017.
The Northam Solar Farm is located on the South-West corner of 131 Northam-York Road, Muluckine, between the Northam York Road and Yilgarn Avenue, approximately 350 metres from the Mortlock River. It has been located to minimise impact on environmental and heritage values, and visual amenity.
Early site works of the Northam Solar Farm commenced in February 2018 with main site construction works scheduled from May until August and commissioning in September. The project is on track to be operational from October 2018.
As the solar farm will reside on traditional Aboriginal land the Indigenous community is an important and welcome stakeholder. The project Steering Committee is well-guided by representatives of Indigenous Business Australia and Bookitja (a subsidiary of the Perth Noongar Foundation) with the intention that the actions of the Partnership will include increasing Indigenous engagement with a culturally sensitive approach.
