A planned solar farm on the NSW-ACT border that would provide power for tens of thousands of homes has been given the green light to proceed by the federal environment department.
The proposed Wallaroo Solar Farm development was referred to the department earlier this year due to the site being a known habitat of some endangered species.
However, in a decision handed down in late August, the department deemed the solar farm project would be able to go ahead in its intended form.
The Wallaroo Solar Farm is set to provide power for up to 48,000 homes in the ACT and NSW.
The 393-hectare site will contain more than 260,000 solar panels, with the panels taking up more than 200 hectares of the space.
While the project will be in NSW, the solar farm will be less than one kilometre away from Canberra suburbs including Dunlop and Macgregor.
It's expected construction on the project will begin in the first quarter of 2022.
Construction on the solar farm itself would likely take 12 months to complete.
Documents for the project have shown the solar farm would be able to operate for a 30-year period.
The development is a joint venture between the Australian-based New Energy Development, and Japanese-Spanish company Univenergy International.
When completed, the solar farm is expected to generate up to 260,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy each year.
The two companies have estimated the project would cost $170 million to complete, with construction to provide at least 200 jobs.
The solar farm project was referred to the federal environment department earlier this year to determine whether the development would be able to proceed in its intended form.
The referral was made after a previous habitat assessment of the area found there were two federally listed threatened species that had habitats in the development footprint, including the pink-tailed worm lizard and the striped legless lizard.
However, a determination for how the development would effect the endangered animals found it would be minimal.
"It was concluded that a significant impact on both of these threatened species was very unlikely," the department documents said.
"As such, the [solar farm] proposal is considered unlikely to affect the matters of national environmental significance."
The companies behind the solar farm development said the Wallaroo site was selected due to energy demand.
"Due to current consumption patterns the ACT and the necessary power required, [electricity operator] Transgrid advised capacity at the substation and more power generation is needed to meet the current demand," planning documents for the solar farm said.
"As the substation has additional capacity and the demand is there, it has been deemed as an ideal region for solar power generation."
The Wallaroo development comes after another large solar farm was approved by the NSW government in nearby Sutton.
The 185-hectare Springdale solar farm was approved earlier this year after a three-year planning process, despite protests from local residents due to the location of the project.
