Tender Open for contractor to deliver Victorian solar plant

Melbourne Water has made a commitment to reduce its net carbon emissions to zero by 2030. The establishment of a new, onsite solar farm to help power ETP is a practical way for Melbourne Water to cut its greenhouse gas emissions, and tackle climate change.

North East Water has opened the tender to find a contractor to deliver the construction of a three-megawatt solar farm, purpose-built to power Wodonga’s sewage treatment plant.

The plant’s functionality will enable the WWTP to continue operations if the WWTP is ever islanded off-grid.

Craig Heiner, Project director said in a prepared statement that approximately 10,000 panels will be installed at the site. The panels will utilise a single axis tracking system to increase solar generation capacity.

“Wodonga’s sewage treatment plant consumes 25 per cent of the Corporation’s total energy requirements, so the solar installation will significantly reduce our expenses and carbon emissions,” Mr Heiner said.

“Any excess electricity generated by the farm will be fed into the grid to help off-set power usage at other water and sewage treatment plants across the north-east.

“We’ve been investing significantly at the plant over the past few years to increase its efficiency and the solar farm is another step in that journey.”

According to North East Water, the successful contractor engaged will need to adhere to the principals’ preliminary design under a Design and Construct model contract.

Construction of the solar farm is expected to begin in late 2019 and is expected to take 18 months to complete.