Recurrent Energy (previously known as Sundown Solar Pty Ltd) proposes to develop the Sundown Solar Farm, a large-scale solar photovoltaic electricity generation facility and associated battery energy storage system (BESS).
The project is located within the New England Renewable Energy Zone (REZ), in Spring Mountain, NSW.

Key benefits

Sundown Solar Farm will play an important role in providing stability to the NSW electricity network. It will also:

assist to prepare for the retirement of large‐scale coal‐fired power generation.

• generate enough energy for over 150,000 homes each year (based on an average NSW household electricity consumption of 7.3 MWh annually)
• provide local and regional employment
• generate spending in the local and regional economy.

During 35-year operating life, sheep will be permitted to graze within portions of the project footprint. Similarly, land will continue to be used for agricultural purposes on the balance of land that is not occupied by the project footprint.

The project is a temporary, partial and reversible change of land use. At the end of the operation phase, the site will be decommissioned and rehabilitated and returned to agricultural production.

Project schedule

The key steps and timeframes for the Sundown Solar Farm are as follows:

• Receipt of Secretary’s environmental assessment requirements (SEARs) (August 2020)
• Receipt of supplementary SEARs (October 2022)
• Submission of EIS (January 2023)
• Receipt of addendum SEARs (February 2023)
• Public exhibition of EIS (July-August 2023)
• Receipt of agency advice and other submissions (Q3 2023)
• Additional environmental assessments and stakeholder engagement (2023-2024)
• Preparation of submission report (2023-2024)
• Lodge the submissions report (Q1 2025)
• Assessment of project by DPHI (Q2 2025)
• IPC process (Q3 2025)
• IPC determination (Q3 2025)

Assessment and determination by Commonwealth Government will follow the IPC determination.