University of Queensland goes 100% renewable with 64MW solar farm

The University of Queensland has revealed plans to build a 64MW solar farm, a project that will see it become the first major university in the world to offset 100 per cent of its electricity usage through its own renewable energy asset.
The $125 million solar farm – to be built near Warwick on the state’s southern Downs region – will produce more than 154GWh a year, and adds to more than 6.3MW of solar on the rooftop of its St Lucia campus and at its research facility at Gatton and other sites.
“We are already the largest solar generator among Australian universities, and this initiative will complement the 50,000 existing solar panels on our campuses,” vice-chancellor and President Professor Peter Høj said in a statement.
“This project makes a clear and bold statement about UQ’s commitment to leadership in renewables and demonstrates UQ is prepared to make a meaningful investment in creating a sustainable future,” vice-chancellor and President Professor Peter Høj said in a statement.
UQ becomes the latest in a flurry of activity from big corporate customers who have elected to source the equivalent of all , or part, of their electricity through wind or solar.
Mars Australia last week contracted 50MW of capacity from the proposed 200MW Kiamal solar farm to meet all the needs of its six Australian factories, while Nectar Farms is sourcing all the power for a new greenhouse facility near Stawell in Victoria from wind and storage.
Sun Metals is commissioning a 124MW solar farm to meet one-third of the needs of its Townsville zinc refinery, Telstra is to source power from new wind and solar farms, while GFG Alliance is using the Numurkah solar farm to power the Laverton steelworks.
All are turning to wind and solar because they are cheap and can slash their electricity costs. The cost of the Warwick solar farm, initially developed by Terrain Solar, is in the low $60s/MWh.
However, UQ says it is not using LCOE as its key measure, preferring instead the NPV (nt present value) benefit of the solar scenario compared to business as usual.
Using this calculation, it estimates the solar farm will more than offset its current and projected future annual electricity usage, which currently costs around $22 million a year, and will pay back the cost to UQ well within its lifetime.