AGL continues to partner with Australian agribusinesses in transition to renewable energy, with project in Griffith

AGL Energy (AGL) has delivered a renewable energy park to an Australian almond orchard, Kerarbury, owned by Rural Funds Group and operated by ofi (olam food ingredients), delivering up to 14MWh of power per annum, in Griffith, New South Wales.

It included the construction of 10,250 solar panels or 5.99MW and a 2293 kW / 4586 kWh battery system, backed up by access to the national electricity grid when required.

AGL Group General Manager Electrification and Innovation Ryan Warburton said this is an exciting partnership for AGL, and another example of how we’re partnering with our customers to accelerate their electrification journey.

“AGL has been working with leading agribusinesses from almond farms like Kerarbury or Caddell, to vineyards and other farming operations for many years. We work with them to transition away from reliance on diesel or grid electricity, to electrify through renewable sources like solar and battery storage, with cost effective solutions.

“This will be AGL’s third major system built for almond industry clients. Each system is designed and built to meet the specific needs of each farm. AGL will operate and maintain the system over a 20-year partnership, allowing ofi to focus on almond production at Kerarbury.

“They’ll achieve high renewable energy penetration of nearly 83 percent, from the over 10,000 solar panels and battery, reducing reliance on grid energy and lowering greenhouse gas emissions annually.

“The panels will be constructed with a single axis tracking system that follows the sun. What this means is the panels start the day almost upright, facing east. As the sun moves over the horizon, the panels follow the sun. The single axis tracking system optimises generation over the seasons, generating a higher yield in summer when the customer most needs the power.

As Kerarbury transitions to a cleaner energy future, once constructed, the system will generate power equal to what would be needed to power the entire adjacent community of Griffith for a whole year.

Damien Houlahan, Head of Almonds at ofi, said as the world’s largest grower of almonds, we are proud to partner with AGL on this solar project to help support local efforts around our almond orchard to transition to a cleaner energy future.

“It will also contribute to our dedicated target of halving Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 under ofi’s sustainability strategy Choices for Change. The project builds on our existing efforts across our Australian orchards to improve water-efficiency, protect and expand permanent pollinator habitats, and maximize renewable energy sources. Partnerships like this are vital to scaling impact across our supply chains while also supporting the decarbonization agendas of our customers, local business, and government partners.”

The energy produced by this project will also be connected to AGL's Virtual Power Plant (VPP) allowing any excess power produced at the farm to be fed into the electricity grid.

AGL’s VPP provides a large bank of controllable energy that can help to stabilise the electricity grid and further support a transition to a cleaner energy future.

AGL currently manages 296MW of commercial solar, and decentralised assets like battery energy storage systems.

The project is physically complete and commissioned and, pending final network approvals, will shortly be providing energy to the site.