To build the Australia’s largest solar farm, traditional owners in Western Australia will collaborate with the advising business Pollination. The action is a part of the nation’s intentions to develop a gigawatt-scale green hydrogen and ammonia project in the northwest.
The projected AUD 3 billion ($2.05 billion) East Kimberley renewable Energy Project will include a 900 MW solar farm, according to Australian renewable energy investor Pollination. The first hydrogen and ammonia production hub in Australia, according to the installation, will be powered entirely by renewable energy.
It is anticipated that the project, which is being built close to the town of Kununurra, would start operating in 2028. For both local and international markets, it will aim to produce 50,000 tonnes of green hydrogen and 250,000 tonnes of green ammonia annually.
The Aboriginal Clean Energy (ACE) partnership, a new firm in which the traditional owners of the land where the project is to be developed hold equal shares, will plan, establish, and operate the East Kimberley Clean Energy Project.
The Kimberley Land Council, Pollination, MG Corp., which represents the Miriuwung and Gajerron people, and Balanggarra Aboriginal Corp. will all own a 25% part in the ACE. The “first-of-its-kind partnership” serves as a template for infrastructure projects in Australia that would guarantee conventional owners profit from the scope and speed of the shift to renewable energy, according to Pollination’s head of projects, Rob Grant.
He said, “It leverages natural advantages and existing energy and port infrastructure already in place in the East Kimberley region to create a major new clean energy export hub that will help Australia and our region decarbonise, grow new industries and ensure transitional owners and local residents are shareholders, not just stakeholders, in the benefits.”
