Frontier Energy Ltd (ASX:FHE) has shortlisted two companies with significant experience in building industrial-scale solar farms in Australia for the construction of the Stage One 114 megawatt (MW) Bristol Springs solar plant.
Five bids were received for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the solar plant, with the winning contractor to be announced in the fourth quarter.
“We were pleased to have received strong interest regarding the EPC process for the Stage One solar farm development from multiple, internationally recognised construction firms,” Frontier executive chairman Grant Davey said.
“Importantly, the shortlisted parties have significant experience in the development of industrial solar development projects in Australia. In addition, despite the high inflationary environment, the costs forecast were highly competitive and in line with the PFS estimate.”
$166 million solar farm
Location of the BSSF project and surrounding infrastructure.
The Bristol Springs solar farm (BSSF) is on 195 hectares of undeveloped site, previously used for agricultural purposes and has been mostly cleared of vegetation.
The $166-million solar farm is designed to power a 36.6MW alkaline electrolyser or hydrogen facility to produce about 4.4 million kilograms of green hydrogen per annum.
It is expected to generate 250GWh of energy monthly during the first year of production, with assumed degradation of 0.3% per annum subsequently.
An EPC tender process for the development of the hydrogen facility will begin when the pre-Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) study is completed and released in the fourth quarter.