COMMUNITIES affected by the Riverland Solar Storage project will have their first formal community information session in Morgan today.
Lyon Group Partner David Green said genuine and early community engagement was vital.
“We’ve been talking to many stakeholders in the Morgan area since before the project announcement,” he said.
“These formal community information sessions will help affected local people to understand project benefits, opportunities and impacts, and just as importantly they will help Lyon to understand local concerns.”
The sessions are being hosted by Mid Murray Council, and will include presentations from council’s mayor and chief executive officer, Lyon, its contractor Downer, Regional Development Australia and the Morgan & Districts Community Hub.
Mr Green said Lyon was committed to working cooperatively with the local community and would continue to work closely with the Mid Murray Council to identify opportunities for local engagement and employment during the construction and operation of the project.
Services and equipment that could be sourced locally include site preparation services, access road preparation, structure assembly, electrical services, panel installation, and accommodation.
On March 30, Lyon announced the $1 billion combined large-scale solar and battery storage project – the world’s biggest – would begin construction in the coming months and is expected to employ 270 workers.
“Riverland Solar Storage’s 330 megawatt solar generation and 100MW battery storage system will be Australia’s biggest solar farm with 3.4 million solar panels and will also include 1.1m batteries,” Mr Green said.