The Chinese company building the Mugga Lane solar farm has plans to develop a "mum and dad" solar scheme with an ethical superannuation fund run by former ACT Greens candidate Simon Sheikh and other plans for the site that might involve high-tech manufacturing.
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Zhenfa has development approval for its solar array and plans to begin earthworks soon. The first panels are set to be installed in February or March next year on the site bordering the Monaro Highway, opposite Hume.
Zhenfa is negotiating to buy the land from the ACT government to give it the certainty it needs to feed solar energy into the grid over 20-plus years.
It has not been all smooth sailing after ACTEW changed its mind on how the solar array would connect to the national grid, the new option requiring an extra kilometre of wiring under Isabella Drive instead of the Monaro Highway. But the pair has reached agreement, neither side is keen to see details of the negotiations aired, and Zhenfa insists it will live with the outcome.
Zhenfa Australia managing director Morris Zhou said the company had more than two gigawatts (2000 megawatts) of solar projects already operating in China but the Canberra array was its first large-scale array outside the country.
"It is a very important capability statement," Mr Zhou said, and would demonstrate the company's ability to deliver outside China. Zhenfa
The economics of solar farms in China and Australia are quite different, with Zhenfa's Australian general manger, Qiao Han, saying the company was paid about $150 per megawatt hour for electricity generated by solar farms in China.
For the Mugga Lane project, it will be paid $178 a megawatt hour. Costs across the board, including labour, were much higher in Australia but, from a financial viewpoint, Australian projects were regarded as lower risk. The upshot was a good deal for Canberrans from the solar prices.
Mr Han, in Canberra this month with Mr Zhou to look at office space, said Mugga Lane was "a demonstration project to test the waters".
The ACT government has also opened a scheme for up to one megawatt of solar energy from community projects and Zhenfa is working with Mr Sheikh's Future Super to set up a scheme, using the Mugga Lane block. The "mum and dad" schemes, which will be paid $200 a megawatt hour for the electricity produced, are owned by the householders who invest in them.
Zhenfa is also examining other options for the land at Mugga Lane, including high-tech manufacturing or similar.
Mr Han said the ACT was leading the way on renewables, punching well above its weight. In China, renewables were big business, he said, with a target of 12 gigawatts of solar generation. On a per capital basis, Canberra's commitment was many times higher, he said.