New South Wales’ Department of Planning has this week (13 May 2021) granted development consent to Lightsource bp’s 400MWdc Wellington North Solar Farm in the Orana region of NSW.

When delivered, Wellington North along with Lightsource’s Wellington solar – currently under construction – will form a renewables hub dispatching 600MW of energy to the grid.

Wellington North was acquired from AGL last year (2020). The project will use 1.2 million bifacial solar panels to produce 1,173,000MWh of renewable electricity.

The project is expected to create 400 local jobs during the construction phase.

Commenting on the development approval yesterday company president Frédéric Baudry said: “This exciting development is further affirmation of bp’s strategy of growing our low carbon businesses and transitioning from an International Oil Company to an Integrated Energy Company.”

He added: “We are proud to be progressing strong positions in renewables and contributing to Australia’s, and bp’s, net zero by 2050 ambitions.”

Lightsource bp is a 50/50 joint venture with British oil giant BP.