11 Jan, 2012 04:00 AMCURRENT market conditions have shaken...

11 Jan, 2012 04:00 AM
CURRENT market conditions have shaken investor confidence, making it hard for Soleir Ltd to fund their solar farm project on Boothenba Road.
The project has been in the works for three years but is yet to receive the four to five million dollars needed to adequately fund development.

Soleir Ltd executive director Rohan Gillespie hopes to have the backing of investors to begin the project in the next six months, but admitted, “there are no guarantees in the current market”.

Mr Gillespie blamed the current condition of the general share market, which is making people wary of investing.

“People are selling their shares and sitting on the cash,” he said.

Despite this apparent setback, Mr Gillespie said Soleir Ltd was still committed to the Boothenba Road solar farm.

“We are very keen to get the project going and we realise Dubbo is an ideal location and we are working very hard behind the scenes,” he said.

The company has plans to roll out similar projects in regional NSW and has spoken to Wagga City Council and Griffith City Council about similar projects.

The construction of the Boothenba Road project was to begin in the third quarter of 2011, Mr Gillespie said in December 2010, but this had now changed due to lack of investment dollars.

Once the solar farm is completed it will supply two megawatts to the local grid, which is enough power to run about 2000 homes in Dubbo.

The company had planned to use 30 to 50 local trades people to erect several thousand solar panels, which would take advantage of the high sun exposure in the area and the location of the nearby substation on Yarrendale Road.

Soleir Ltd took out 30-year lease for the 25-hectare block land of land on Boothenba Road.