A 39,000-panel solar farm will generate an estimated 19 megawatts off-the-grid at Eastern Treatment Plant in Bangholme.
Works are expected to start on the farm next to the sewage treatment plant about mid-2021.
The treatment plant will generate 65 per cent of its power needs, when the solar farm is operational by mid-late 2022.
It is touted by Melbourne Water as one of the largest ‘behind-the-meter’ solar installations in Australia.
Melbourne Water program delivery general manager Eamonn Kelly said the plant had been generating 30 per cent of its electricity from sewage gas since it opened in 1975.
“With the addition of this solar plant, that capability will more than double to about 65 per cent – similar to the power required to run 6000 homes a year.
“This will take a significant amount of pressure off the grid and will deliver the important benefit of reducing our carbon emissions by more than 30,000 tonnes a year.”
Melbourne-based company Beon Energy Solutions won the contract to build the solar farm.
Carrum MP Sonya Kilkenny said it was “exciting to see such a significant solar project right here in our local community.”
Melbourne Water has committed to halve its emissions by 2025 and reduce them to net zero by 2030.
The Eastern Treatment Plant treats about 40 per cent of Melbourne’s sewage – about 350 million litres a day.
In 2019-’20, it treated 145 billion litres of sewage and delivered 5.5 billion litres of recycled water.
