Since it was commissioned, the UNE solar farm’s 8,700 fixed panels on the campus’s northern boundary have generated over 12 Gigawatt hours (GWh) and avoided over 8,500 tonnes of carbon. This is equivalent to powering over 1750 households since commissioning.
Over the last four years, the solar farm has supplied an average of 38 per cent of the total campus electricity (academic and Bellevue campuses combined). During summer that can increase to 50 per cent of the total campus daily consumption.
The latest Large Scale Generation Certificate (LGC) claim for the solar farm has generated $117,000 in revenue for the university for the period January to June 2024. This brings total LGC revenue to $1.019 million since the solar farm was commissioned.
Creator of UNE’s Renewable Energy Hub, Dr Eric Nordberg says that UNE’s very own solar farm has also been an excellent demonstration site for teaching, research, and student engagement.
“Students from Ecosystem Rehabilitation (EM351) and Ecological Methods (ECOL204) come on site and we discuss the potential for solar farms to act as multi-use landscapes – providing area for energy production, livestock grazing, and biodiversity,” said Dr Nordberg.
“MSc student, Remo Boscarino-Gaetano is in the final stretches of his degree where he looked at how the wildlife communities on the UNE Solar Farm compare to the adjacent farmland of Laureldale.
“Remo’s work is the first step in identifying the impacts solar farms have on wildlife and gives us an opportunity to make management recommendations on how to better improve wildlife habitat within solar arrays.”
A feasibility study for Stage Two of the UNE Solar Farm will take place in the near future, with the feasibility of battery storage being the biggest factor affecting the University’s ability to double its capacity
