SmartestEnergy has signed a long-term arrangement with Octopus Australia to purchase 25% of the output from its 275 MW (333 MWdc) Darlington Point Solar Farm project in New South Wales, Australia. SmartestEnergy provides renewable energy to commercial and industrial enterprises.
The project, commissioned in 2020, is the largest solar farm in Australia with approximately one million solar panels, able to power 110,000 homes annually.
Octopus Australia invested approximately AUD5.5 million (US$3.87 million) to establish a biodiversity stewardship scheme to protect significant areas of natural grasslands and compensate for any effect caused by the construction of the Darlington Point Solar Farm. Separate from the solar farm, these grasslands are pending registration under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (NSW), which will protect them from further development.
