The first sod has been turned today on a disused landfill site at Summerhill Waste Management Centre, marking the beginning of construction on the region's largest solar farm.
City of Newcastle is promising the five-megawatt solar arm will increase our energy generation tenfold and save ratepayers $9 million over its 25-year life.
The farm covers an area of about five football fields on the old Wallsend Borehole Colliery site.
It will consist of 14,500 solar arrays and will produce enough energy to run the equivalent of all the City of Newcastle's facilities during the day, normally amounting to $4 million a year.
It follows eight other solar installations at the Waratah Works Depot , Art Gallery, City, Wallsend and New Lambton libraries, No.1 and No.2 Sportsgrounds and Newcastle Museum.
"We are building sustainability into everything we do after reiterating our commitment last year to generate 30 per cent of our electricity needs from low-carbon sources and cut overall electricity usage by 30 per cent by 2020," Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said.
The new facility builds on one of Australia's most advanced renewable energy setups at a waste facility - with a 2.2megawatt landfill gas generator and a small wind turbine already located at Summerhill.
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| Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes and Deputy Lord Mayor Declan Clausen turn the first sod at the Solar Farm. |
