French renewables developer Engie has marked the delivery of its first large-scale solar facility in Australia, announcing the successful commissioning of the 250 MW Goorambat East Solar Farm (GESF) in northeast Victoria.

The project, that comprises about 500,000 solar panels deployed across a 630-hectare site near the town of Benalla, achieved registration status late last year before reaching full production earlier this year. 

Engie has now officially celebrated the full commissioning of the project, saying it marks a significant milestone for the state’s renewable energy landscape. 

“As Engie’s first large-scale solar development in Australia, and currently Victoria’s largest, GESF represents far more than a new renewable energy asset,” the company said. “It is a real-life example of the energy transition taking shape in Victoria and a reflection of our commitment to building the energy system of the future.”

The Goorambat East Solar Farm is now the biggest solar facility to be fully operational in Victoria, eclipsing French developer Total Eren’s 200 MW Kiamal Solar Farm in the state’s west. Commissioned in 2021, Kiamal is expected to eventually overshadow Goorambat with Total Eren proposing a second stage that would bolster the facility’s capacity by an additional 150 MW.

Engie said the delivery of the Goorambat East Solar Farm reflects the company’s commitment to establish a significant portfolio of large-scale solar, wind and battery energy storage assets in Australia.

“The success of this project gives us confidence in what we can achieve next,” it said.

The company, which owns and operates the 150 MW/ 150 MWh Hazelwood battery energy storage system in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, is aiming to deliver 3 GW of renewables across the National Energy Market (NEM) by 2030. Its project pipeline includes the 120 MW Silverleaf and 100 MW Yass solar farms being developed in New South Wales. It is also developing the 200 MW Warhook Solar Farm project in Queensland.

Luminous tested its LUMI S4 fleet during construction of the Goorambat East Solar Farm | Image: Engie Australia

The Goorambat East solar farm was among the first in Australia to utilise robotic technologies for solar installations with multiple companies collaborating to demonstrate how automation can streamline the installation of solar module mountings and pilings.

Australia-based Bouygues Construction and Equans Solar & Storage, with the participation of China’s Huzhou Leapting Technology and US-based Luminous.

The project marked the Australian debut of robotics company Luminous’ artificial intelligence-powered “pick and place”  solar module-mounting robots, which the United States-based company said allow solar farms to be constructed up to 3.5 times faster, with improved cost efficiency.

Chinese automation company Leapting also ran a trial of its AI-driven solar module-mounting technology on the Goorambat East project while from US-headquartered Build Robotics tested its auto-pile driver at the site.

The trials were facilitated by engineering, procurement and construction contractors Bouygues Construction Australia and Equans Solar and Storage Australia.