News

· An example of an enterprising New South Wales landowner turning what could be potentially a negative situation into some positive energy

Faced with compulsory acquisition of a piece of its land in 2023 by Transgrid to make way for the proposed HumeLink 500kV transmission line and Gugaa Sub-station, the Brunsdon Pastoral Co hit upon the idea to take advantage of the location to connect its own project.

Although approached by a number of renewable energy developers interested in the attractive location, Brunsdon decided to independently develop a solar farm “to maintain control of the design over their land and manage the impacts any new energy generation has on the area”.

Brunsdon is now seeking development approvals for the 300-600 MW Livingstone Solar Farm with a 400 MW / 1600 MWh BESS on its family-owned and -run property at Big Springs, in the Wagga Wagga City Council LGA.

The land acquired for the HumeLink infrastructure is in the northern extent of the project site which covers approximately 2700 hectares, including a potential development area of approximately 1345 hectares.

Having farmed the land for several decades, Brunsdon Pastoral wants to ensure that the solar farm design is fully agri-voltaic to support ongoing agricultural use of the project site, including sheep grazing between the panels and cropping continuing on other areas within the project site.

The scoping report for the project, put together by Cogency and recently submitted to the NSW state planning authority, said “the goal is to diversify and enhance farming operations while generating significant social and economic benefits for the local community and contributing to the broader renewable energy objectives in New South Wales”.

Pending all approvals being in place by late 2025/early 2026, construction of Livingstone Ag Solar Farm could begin in late 2026 with operations starting in 2027/2028.

HumeLink will consist of 365km of 500kV overhead transmission lines connecting Wagga Wagga, Bannaby and Maragle substations. Transgrid is also proposing the new Gugaa 500kV substation at Gregadoo, approximately 11km south-east of the existing Wagga 330/132 kV substation, to support HumeLink’s infrastructure needs.

The map below shows a central project location marker with the proposed HumeLink transmission line in dark blue, and the Gugaa Sub-station location shaded in light blue (data courtesy of Rosetta Analytics).