Tasmania’s biggest solar project has passed another hurdle, after the Northern Midlands Council approved the development application last night.
Minister for Energy and Renewables Nick Duigan has welcomed the council’s decision to support the Northern Midlands Solar Farm development at Cressy.
“This is great news and another big step in growing Tasmanian’s renewable energy resource,” Minister Duigan said.
Under the plan, locally owned company TasRex will develop 400 hectares of solar panels will be installed at the historic Connorville Station.
TasRex say the solar farm would have a footprint of 600ha, involve 670,000 individual panels and create 370 direct jobs during the construction phase, with a further 25–30 ongoing, permanent jobs.
“The farm would produce 288 megawatts of power, enough to power around one quarter of Tasmanian households,” Minister Duigan said.
“This is another exciting step in ensuring Tasmania reaches its target of doubling our renewable energy production by 2040.”
The Rockliff Liberal Government is committed to making Tasmania the best place to live and work and our state is on path to be the nation’s renewables powerhouse.
“Increasing our renewable energy generation will help ensure Tasmania continues to have the lowest power prices in the nation,” Minister Duigan said.
“TasRex are doing a great job in seeing this vision become a reality and the Rockliff Liberal Government continues to be a strong supporter of their project.
“Tasmania is extremely well placed to develop more renewable energy to support our long-term plan for a growing economy and supporting jobs, many in regional communities.”