New England Solar Farm — Stage 1
ACEN Australia
solaroperatingConfidence: Very high
Capacity and technology
Technology
solar
Capacity (MW)
400 MW
Estimated capex, local spend and peak workforce
Total development cost
~$480M benchmark estimate
400 MW × $1.2M/MW (solar)
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
~$106M 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
~200 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
~50 FTE
Electrical trades
~60 FTE
Mechanical / structural
~20 FTE
Plant operators
~20 FTE
PM / engineering / env
~20 FTE
Logistics / admin
~30 FTE
By phase (across construction window)
| Phase | FTE | What's happening |
|---|---|---|
| Mobilisation + civils (year 1) | ~120 | Site prep, access roads, foundations, early electrical. Civil trades dominant. |
| Peak construction (year 2) | ~200 | All trades concurrent. Turbine / panel delivery, electrical install, commissioning prep. |
| Commissioning / demob (year 3) | ~140 | Specialist electrical and testing. Civil and structural ramping down. |
| Operations (ongoing) | ~14 | 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
operating
Planning status
Approved; constructed
Access right status
pre-REZ access scheme
EPBC status
approved — operating
Grid connection
connected
Financial close
complete
Construction start
2021
Operations start
2023
Location
LGA
Uralla Shire
Region
Northern Tablelands NSW — ~6 km east of Uralla
REZ
New England REZ
REZ relationship
inside declared REZ
Coordinates
-30.65, 151.55 (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 highPublished: 2023-03New England Solar — ACEN Australiahttps://acenrenewables.com.au/project/new-england-solar/ ↗Stage 1 = 400 MW operational since 2023. Official opening March 2023. Big Ridge Road, Uralla. ~1.5M panels with single-axis tracking, sheep grazing under arrays.
Notes
First-mover NE REZ solar at scale. Operating baseline visible to the regional construction workforce that will be available for subsequent NE REZ build-out. Pairs with Stage 2 (under construction) and the New England Battery.
Source confidence: 88/100
Last verified: 2026-05-15
Every material fact on this page is sourced. A "View source" link is provided per source below.
Last verified: 2026-05-15
Every material fact on this page is sourced. A "View source" link is provided per source below.
Source evidence
Confidence: Very high- secondaryProponent project websitesView 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.
- primaryAEMO — Generation InformationView source ↗Technical pipeline data for NEM connections. Authoritative for grid-connection technical status.
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
New England REZ
All projects, pressure bands and shared-value commitments for this REZ
LGA detail
Uralla Shire
11 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
This project's share of the year-by-year capex flow into regional NSW
Project timeline
Gantt by REZ
Visual overlap with neighbouring projects' construction windows
Cross-sector pressures
Non-REZ competing demand
What else is being built in the region in the same window
Upcoming decisions
4 relevant to this project or REZ
IPC meetings, EIS exhibitions, council determinations