Bringing Murrumbidgee Solar Farm to life

Watch the 5MW Murrumbidgee Solar Farm rise out of the earth in this impressive time-lapse video. The farm, 2km from the rural town of Jerilderie in New South Wales, was built by our client Next Generation Electrical (NGE) for specialist renewables investor Birdwood Energy. Middleton Group is NGE’s civil, structural, solar and electrical design partner for small-to medium scale solar and battery energy storage systems, and we are currently working together on solar farm sites across Australia.

For Murrumbidgee Solar Farm, which has 11,400 solar panels and storage capacity of 11MWh, Middleton Group carried out detailed design, which included solar direct current design; cable design for low voltage, high voltage and direct current; structural designs for all inverter, battery energy storage system and high voltage switchboards; as well as earthing and lightning studies.

There are numerous challenges in building solar farms, says Joe Darker, Team Lead – Renewable Energy Services. “Right at the start, the site selection challenge comes down to what land is available and the capacity to connect on the nearby distribution/transmission network,” he explains. “Then we need to ask: Is the ground flat? Are soil conditions suitable for foundations? Are there any local authority restrictions on what can go where?”

An essential task is flood mapping, he adds: “If the site is prone to flooding, this means more thought needs to be put into civils and drainage to deal with water runoff and prevent erosion.” Another challenge is uneven or sloping ground. “This can cause issues with the solar mounting arrangement. “As we know with solar, the aim is to create as much energy as possible,” he says. “If there are factors that curtail this, such as shadowing and poor spacing due to land conditions, this ultimately reduces revenue for the owners.”

However, he adds, there are technological solutions to these challenges. “For example, companies like Nextracker offer a range of solutions that enable solar arrays to be installed over uneven ground to a slope of up to 15°. This is fantastic, as it allows investors and developers to explore areas that might otherwise be overlooked.”

Other tricky areas can be cable reticulation and trenching. “There are a lot of cables that need to go underground – low-voltage, high-voltage, communications and control among them,” says Joe. “These need to be coordinated in a way that there will be adequate clearance for operation.” Middleton Group’s engineers highlight these challenge areas from the start of a new solar farm project and iron out solutions through the design stages.

The benefit of working with long-term partners like NGE, Joe adds, is that Middleton Group’s engineers understand exactly what they need and that leads to efficiencies in time and effort – a win for everyone. “The more designs you do, the more you understand the client’s needs and motivators,” says Joe. “You grow trust and get repeat work from delivering a design that meets the client’s needs.”