Goulburn could be Australian solar research centre

This will be the focus of a workshop hosted by Western Sydney University and in partnership with the Land and Primary Industries Network in Richmond on Friday, May 10.

The event will host an emerging consortium seeking to investigate the considerations for large-scale solar panel mounting design, optimising opportunities for productive land use in agricultural contexts, the social licensing around such opportunities, upskilling required for farmers and community, and modelling on when such designs could be incorporated into other projects.

"There's quite a lot of tension between the directly affected landowners and the community at large," Ms McKay said.

She's coordinating on behalf of Farmers for Climate Action but is also the Goulburn Mulwaree Landcare chair, and on the South East Landcare committee.

When the Gundary solar utility was first proposed Ms McKay began to educate herself.

"There were all sorts of angry people at drop in sessions saying this was all going to be a disaster and it was going to put an end to farming on the Gundary plain, and I thought it was ridiculous," she said.

She didn't agree with community members who said it would be the end of farming.

"I started to get involved in this whole agrivoltaic business - the co-location of intensive agriculture and solar farms," Ms McKay said.

"This is done all over the world, it's just not done in Australia. In Idaho they grown their potatoes in solar farms ... I started to do some research."

Ms McKay found that there was data from European and north American research but points out that Australia is "not Europe, and we're not north America".

"We've got different climates, different soils, different populations, different wants, different needs," she said.

"We've got a very advanced carbon soil market. We've got a very advanced biodiversity offset market and we've got our own requirements for habitat and food production."

Ms McKay felt Australia should be producing their own research and data. She put together about 12 universities and the CSIRO, the NSW Decarbonisation Innovation Hub and pushed Farmers for Climate Action to take the lead.

"We are now bidding for a cooperative research centre next year," she said.

"It's a $100 million project which will be 50 percent funded by the government and 50 percent industry and we want to make the headquarters in Goulburn. That's what I want to do and what I want to achieve."

There would be demonstration centres in the tropics and the cotton growing and wine growing regions but Goulburn would be the first site and do vegetables and cattle, according to Ms McKay.

"It's a big deal and the whole idea is to build a demonstration solar farm and test the various designs and then to show people that solar farms can produce soil carbon credits; that they can produce intensive agriculture - vegetables, berries, orchards, dairy; and of course in all the regions that they can produce very clean, green regenerative product," she said.

"It's an enormous undertaking and I can't do it alone."

Ms McKay's company Growing@Goulburn is coordinating the 2025 agrivoltaics CRC bid for on behalf of Farmers for Climate Action, which will cost about $300,000.

She's calling for industry, education, and community to attend Friday's workshop "whether your commitment to this endeavour is intended to be large or small".

"We are excited to host this pivotal event, bringing together diverse stakeholders to tackle the complex challenges associated with agrisolar initiatives," Western Sydney University research partnership development manager Liz Smith said.

"Through collaborative efforts and shared expertise, we aim to pave the way for sustainable solutions that benefit both agricultural productivity and environmental conservation."

More information and registration details are available online.