Breaking ground: largest solar farm on way

By Andy Wilson

Oct 25, 2024

Victorian Climate Action, Energy and Resources Minister Lily D’Ambrosio (centre) joined representatives of ENGIE and Equans Solar & Storage to break ground on the new Goorambat East Solar Farm.

A sod-turning ceremony on Thursday, October 24 has heralded the start of Goorambat East Solar Farm, which is set to be commissioned in 2026.

Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content

Victorian Climate Action, Energy and Resources Minister Lily D’Ambrosio joined ENGIE ANZ executives and team members for the ceremony at ENGIE’s planned 250MW site.

The solar farm will be the biggest one under construction in Victoria.

ENGIE managing director of renewables Laura Caspari said construction was proceeding as planned and would make an important contribution to the company’s renewable energy ambitions.

“We expect construction and commissioning of Goorambat East Solar Farm to be finished in 2026, helping to advance our goal of delivering 3GW of renewable energy in Australia by 2030,” Ms Caspari said.

“Goorambat East is an optimal project with an excellent solar resource and access to existing transmission infrastructure — it also has a great network of near neighbours and community members that we’ve been working with.

“We look forward to being a part of this community and making meaningful contributions at every stage of this project.”

The project will create about 250 new jobs during construction.

Once completed, the solar farm will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 105,000 average Victorian homes.

ENGIE has committed to a community benefit fund of $75,000 per year for the life of the project and up to $1000 in annual rebates to eligible near neighbours once it starts to generate electricity.