NSW deep dive › Central-West Orana REZ › Wollar Solar Farm

Wollar Solar Farm

Wollar Solar Development

solarunder constructionConfidence: High

Capacity and technology

Technology

solar

Capacity (MW)

280 MW

Storage

560 MWh

Estimated capex, local spend and peak workforce

Total development cost

~$728M benchmark estimate

280 MW × $1.2M/MW (solar) + + 560 MWh × $0.7M/MWh (co-located BESS)

Industry benchmark only — not project-specific. Sources: Clean Energy Council, BloombergNEF 2024 Australian utility-scale LCOE inputs, AEMO ISP 2024 cost assumptions. Actual capex varies materially by site, OEM, supply chain and grid-connection works.

Estimated local / regional spend

~$160M benchmark estimate

22% of capex — Clean Energy Council benchmark for renewable energy construction in regional Australia. Actual local content varies by project siting, procurement strategy and any access-scheme local-content conditions.

Estimated peak construction workforce

~140 roles benchmark estimate

Industry benchmark: ~0.7 FTE/MW wind, 0.5 FTE/MW solar, 0.4 FTE/MWh BESS, 1.5 FTE/MW pumped hydro. Peak during civil/electrical phase only — operations workforce is typically ~5-10% of construction peak.

Workforce breakdown — sector mix and phasing

Sector mix and phase distribution for the estimated construction workforce. Basis: industry norm (Clean Energy Council, ARENA, AEMO ISP 2024 + comparable EIS Social Impact Assessments). Numbers are decision-support indicators, not a project-specific forecast.

By service sector / industry (peak year)

Civil / earthworks

~35 FTE

Electrical trades

~42 FTE

Mechanical / structural

~14 FTE

Plant operators

~14 FTE

PM / engineering / env

~14 FTE

Logistics / admin

~21 FTE

By phase (across construction window)

Phase	FTE	What's happening
Mobilisation + civils (year 1)	~84	Site prep, access roads, foundations, early electrical. Civil trades dominant.
Peak construction (year 2)	~140	All trades concurrent. Turbine / panel delivery, electrical install, commissioning prep.
Commissioning / demob (year 3)	~98	Specialist electrical and testing. Civil and structural ramping down.
Operations (ongoing)	~10	Permanent O&M workforce — typically 5–10% of construction peak. Plus periodic major-maintenance windows.

Sector mix from CEC, ARENA and AEMO ISP workforce profiles for utility-scale Australian builds. Phase distribution from comparable EIS Social Impact Assessments. Indicative only — actual workforce varies with OEM, contractor strategy, weather and OSOM scheduling.

Approvals and access rights

Project status

under construction

Planning status

Development consent 2020 (SSD-9254); BESS modification application lodged (280 MW / 560 MWh upgrade from original 30 MW / 30 MWh)

Access right status

pre-CWO access scheme

EPBC status

approved

Grid connection

in progress

Financial close

complete for solar; BESS subject to modification approval

Construction start

2023

Operations start

2025

Location

LGA

Mid-Western Regional

Region

Central West NSW — ~55 km NE of Mudgee

REZ

Central-West Orana REZ

REZ relationship

inside declared REZ

Coordinates

-32.36, 150.07 (approximate)

Project documents — EIS, SEARs, proponent pages

Direct links to public documents and pages for this project. Phase 2 ingestion will pull updates automatically; Sprint 0 entries are verified manually with a confidence score per record.

proponent pageConfidence: Very high
Wollar Solar Farm
https://wollarsolar.com.au/ ↗
280 MWac solar across ~660,000 panels with single-axis tracking. Construction began early 2023, completion target late 2025.
otherConfidence: High
Wollar BESS — modification application
https://wollarsolar.com.au/bess/ ↗
Modification application to expand approved 30 MW / 30 MWh BESS to 280 MW / 560 MWh (2-hour duration).
planning portal pageConfidence: Very high
Wollar Solar Farm — NSW Planning Portal (SSD-9254)
https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects/projects/wollar-solar-farm ↗
Hosts development consent and modification documents.

Notes

Pre-CWO access scheme project, but inside the CWO REZ geographic boundary. Mid-Western Regional LGA. BESS upgrade from 30 MW to 280 MW (~9× expansion) is a significant addition to the CWO REZ storage stack.

Source confidence: 82/100
Last verified: 2026-05-18
Every material fact on this page is sourced. A "View source" link is provided per source below.

Source evidence

Confidence: High

primaryNSW Planning Portal — Major Projects
View source ↗
Authoritative for NSW SSD and SSI planning status. Hosts each project's Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), SEARs, response to submissions, and other planning documents. Outranks proponent and media reports for planning_status. Per-project EIS and SSD page URLs are tracked under each project's project_documents.
secondaryProponent project websites
View source ↗
Proponent-supplied content from each project's dedicated page on the proponent's website. Useful for technology, capacity intent, community engagement messaging, project newsletters, fact sheets and timeline updates. Cannot override official planning_status or epbc_status. Per-project page URLs are tracked under each project's project_documents.

Open questions

Planning status against the NSW Planning Portal — verify SSD reference.
EPBC referral status — verify against DCCEEW public notices.
Storage MWh and voltage figures — confirm from proponent documents and AEMO Generation Information.
Workforce and accommodation commitments — confirm in SSD documentation or VPA.
First Nations engagement reporting — confirm in IEP / cultural heritage chapter.

See this project in context

REZ workspace

Central-West Orana REZ

All projects, pressure bands and shared-value commitments for this REZ

LGA detail

Mid-Western Regional

7 projects · everything affecting this council area

Workforce + supply ratio

Demand vs ABS baseline

How this REZ's peak compares to existing regional workforce

Regional spend

Annual flow by year