Engie Australia chief executive Laura Caspari was excited to officially open the Goorambat East Solar Farm on August 7.
Photo by
Simon Ruppert
Engie has officially opened Victoria’s largest solar farm, just outside Benalla.
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The 250MW Goorambat East Solar Farm will generate enough clean electricity each year to power around 105,000 Victorian homes, supporting the transition to a reliable and secure energy supply while reducing emissions and delivering local benefits.
Engie Australia chief executive Laura Caspari said Engie had committed to a community benefit fund of $75,000 per year for the life of the project.
That fund is designed to support local initiatives and deliver long-term benefits to the Goorambat and Benalla communities.
This fund operates alongside targeted local investments, including a contribution towards a new telecommunications tower to improve connectivity in the region.
“The community fund will be available for grant funding for community initiatives,” Ms Caspari said.
“That’s on top of some of the environmental work we’ve done.
“We've planted around 29,000 trees on this site and installed 450 nest boxes for habitat for birds and bats and other critters.”
The project represents Engie’s first large-scale solar development in Australia and a key step in the company’s strategy to accelerate the energy transition.
“We’re just absolutely thrilled to see the largest solar farm in the state of Victoria officially open for business and operational,” Ms Caspari said.
“It's a 250MW solar project. To put that in context, there’s over half a million solar panels.
“It has 83 inverters, 21km of fence and 30km of roads.
“It's really been a monumental effort of the nearly 400 people who have been out here building the project.”
Ms Caspari said the site would employ a handful of people to oversee its day-to-day operations, moving forward.
The Goorambat East 250MW solar farm has 83 inverters, 21km of fence and 30km of roads.
Photo by
Simon Ruppert
With one of the main local concerns regarding solar farms, and solar batteries specifically, being fire risk, Ms Caspari said she would like to reassure local communities that it was all safe.
“With any infrastructure, we take fire extraordinarily seriously and the batteries do have fire suppression,” she said.
“We also have firefighting facilities in terms of water trucks and other things like that on site.
“And we follow CFA guidelines strictly. We have fire assessments on installations, and we follow those up as well.”
Goorambat East Solar Farm is underpinned by a 10-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft, securing a portion of the project’s output, providing long-term revenue certainty and reflecting strong demand from leading global companies for renewable energy in Australia.
Ms Caspari said the project highlighted the role of large-scale renewables in strengthening the national electricity market.
“The commissioning of Goorambat East Solar Farm is a major milestone for Engie locally and moves us to a more secure and sustainable energy system,” she said.
“Victoria’s energy transition is not theoretical — it’s happening now, and it closely mirrors Engie’s own transformation over recent years.
“As coal-fired power retires, we’ve stepped forward to build the next generation of energy infrastructure — wind, solar and batteries — while continuing to support customers through a period of significant change,” Ms Caspari said.
“Goorambat East reflects our long-term commitment to the region, local communities and the state’s clean energy future.
“By continuing to invest in solar, wind and storage, we are helping to deliver affordable, reliable and low-carbon energy for Australian customers and communities.”
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