A SMALL outback town on the banks of the Bogan River in north-west NSW will be the site of the state's first commercial solar farm, after the Keneally government gave the $300 million project the go-ahead yesterday.
The hot, dry township of Nyngan, 585 kilometres from Sydney, was the "ideal site" for the 200-hectare project, which could generate enough energy to power 20,000 homes, Planning Minister Tony Kelly said.
The announcement follows a week of controversy over Premier Kristina Keneally's refusal to back an upper house inquiry into the state's $5.3 billion electricity privatisation, and backflip on Thursday, reports The Australian Financial Review .
The farm, proposed by Infigen Suntech Australia, a consortium of renewable power company Infigen Energy and China-based, New York-listed Suntech Power Holdings, was one of nine projects being assessed by the state government.
