Huge Orange solar farm and battery to be built this year on Mitchell Highway

Groundworks at 643 Mitchell Highway (shown above) is on track to begin before the end of 2022, according to the developer.

"With power prices [so high] ... this is really exciting," investor and Orange resident Granton Smith said.

The $13 million facility will feature 17,000 panels across 140 rows, each capable of tilting 60 degrees to track the sun throughout the day.

Mr Smith says most of the 10.8 hectares will be hidden, despite being just metres from the road: "The way the land rolls, you won't be able to see it."

Harvested energy will be stored in an on-site five megawatt lithium-ion battery, allowing it to be fed back into the grid when demand is highest.

"It's what separates us from other [solar] farms," Smith said, noting most competitors are at the mercy of price fluctuations.

Canberra-based company ITP is building the Orange Community Renewable Energy Park (OCREP), with parts sourced from a third-party.

Funding comes via ITP subsidiaries ($3m), a 'green' superfund ($6m), and the state government's Renewable Community Energy Fund ($3.5m).

Energy Democracy's Central West NSW Co-operative - comprising 135 Australian investors, including many from Orange - raised a further $1.35m.

Smith is on the group's board, and said the localised funding ensures responsible management longterm:

"Unless there is some buy-in from the community, it just looks like a big company has come in and slapped up a farm.

"They don't have to see it or live with it, and then jump the wagon and disappear with very little sense of ownership for local people."

Energy Democracy promotes the venture online, and claims an "estimated" - but not guaranteed - return of eight to to 12 per cent per annum:

"Anyone within Australia can invest ... households, small businesses, and ... Self-managed Super."

OCREP was proposed in 2017, but disputes within council, community concerns, funding difficulties, supply shortages, and other challenges delayed construction.

The solar farm is "99 per cent recyclable" and will be decommissioned in about 2058, according to ITP's approved development application.

"In 35 years time I reckon it's going to make a very nice garden," Smith said.

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