Alice Springs can expect four per cent of its electricity supply to come from solar by the end of 2015.
Already Australia’s largest tracking solar farm, the 3.1 mega watt expansion of Uterne will bring its total capacity to 4.1 mega watts.
The farm is owned by renewable energy company Epuron which currently provides the desert town with one per cent of its annual electricity needs.
Company director Martin Poole said Epuron always had plans to expand the Uterne facility, but had trouble getting finance. He said plans can now go ahead due to a $13 million loan from the Clean Energy Finance Fund.
The company didn’t disclose the total cost of the new project.
While there are plans underway for much bigger solar farms in Australia, Uterne is the largest with tracking technology that allows panels to follow the sun.
