Aldoga Solar Farm: supporting the Gladstone community

The Aldoga Solar Farm is a solar farm project by Spanish renewable energy developer, ACCIONA Energía.  

Located 20 km north-west of Gladstone, the Aldoga Solar Farm has a capacity of 380 megawatts of generation and is comprised of 820,000 solar modules. However, its impact goes far beyond supporting electricity supply in the region.  

The Aldoga Solar Farm demonstrates how renewable energy projects can support Australian manufacturing, reduce emissions and support the communities they are built within. 

Community and Stakeholder Engagement Queensland Lead, Renee Mooney said ACCIONA Energía prides itself on being part of the communities in which it develops its projects and has delivered a range of programs to support the local Gladstone community.  

‘The Aldoga Solar Farm project is significant in the Gladstone community because it’s the first renewable energy project in this region,’ Renee said.  

‘It will give back to the community through long-term employment, through upskilling and also through its community initiatives,’ she added.  

Investing in local initiatives  

One of these initiatives is the Aldoga Small Grants Program which provides funding for community groups and organisations in the Gladstone region to support local sustainable development projects.  

‘The small grants program was created after feedback from local organisations about what their needs were. It is there to help build longer-term sustainable initiatives for those local organisations.’ 

To date, the project has invested over $80,000 to 15 local programs and initiatives. One of those recipients was Yarwun State Public School.  

President of the Yarwun State School Parents and Citizens' Association, Graham Bambrick said with funding from Aldoga Small Grants program they were able to purchase laptops for every child.   

 ‘This kind of investment that the small grants program was able to help this school with is amazing,’ he said.  

Supporting local businesses 

In addition to supporting the local community through its grant program, the project also engaged a range of local businesses and suppliers during its construction. This includes general crane hire company, Brolga Cranes and construction company, Coates Building Co. 

Managing director and founder of Brolga Cranes, Paul Olsen said the company is Queensland’s first 100 per cent indigenous-owned and managed crane hire company.   

Paul said it’s vital that large-scale local projects like the Aldoga Solar Farm employ local companies.  

‘It’s projects like this that keeps the revenue turnover in small businesses. It’s helped us provide training opportunities for indigenous employees to build their skills within the industry,’ he said. 

‘It keeps the locals employed and generates revenue throughout the communities as well,’ he added.  

General manager of Coates Building, Olivia Coates said as a family-owned business, being involved in such a major infrastructure project has helped them grow their business.  

‘It’s so important to us to employ locally and support the community. Our team has been able to grow and also receive more training to enable us to take on more work,’ she said.   

Find out how the Authority is supporting the Central Queensland community transition to a net zero economy at  https://www.netzero.gov.au/central-queensland.