The owner of a huge solar farm in outback Queensland hits the kill switch after almost a decade, saying his contract with Ergon Energy was unfair.

An outback solar farm has officially switched off its panels after the owner said a failed agreement with Ergon Energy forced his hand to pull the plug.

For eight years, Doug Scouller’s Normanton Solar Farm has kept residential and business lights on across an area almost twice the size of Tasmania.

  • WolfLink@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    2 days ago

    “I’m not going to pay them to produce power for them, so I was left with no option but to turn the power station off because I couldn’t afford to keep it going,” he said.

    According to Mr Scouller, the new PPA offered to him by Ergon Energy would cost him more than $10,000 extra a month.

    “Most of the day, they’re offering me a minus figure for the power, so in effect, that means I have to pay them to produce power for them,” he said.

    When there is too much power on the grid, it has to be dumped safely. Fluctuations in output from solar can be a problem without infrastructure like batteries to even it out. It sounds like Ergon Energy believes this solar farm is causing more difficulty than benefit for them.