WORKS on a 1.2 megawatt solar panel farm at The University of Adelaide Roseworthy Campus are set to begin after the first sod was turned yesterday.

Energy minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan, The University of Adelaide vice-chancellor Peter Rathjen, and Roseworthy campus dean Wayne Hein were at the local site yesterday to celebrate the beginning of the project, which will see 3200 integrated solar panels, a battery storage system and a micro electricity grid established in an empty 4.5ha paddock.

The $7 million project, funded in part by a $778,000 State Government grant, will be used to power 42 per cent of the Roseworthy Campus’ energy requirements.

Speaking at the launch of the project, Mr van Holst Pellekaan said there were many “untapped renewable energy generation opportunities” across the state.

“This is actually the type of project our government is very keen to support, because it will lead to bigger things,” he said.

“The Roseworthy energy storage and solar project will help drive growth by cultivating a new generation of new sustainability professionals.

“Renewable energy is an industry that plays to our strengths in South Australia, and continues to have enormous potential for growth.

“With more days of sunshine than most parts of the world and an abundant coastline offering tremendous wind resources, we have enormous untapped renewable energy generation opportunities here in South Australia.”

The construction of the plant is expected to create 23 jobs, and will connect directly to three separate research projects on energy storage systems the university will conduct.

Engineering, computer science, and the Institute of Mineral and Energy Resources researchers and postgraduate students from the university’s Adelaide campus will use the solar farm for research purposes once it is complete.

Data from the systems will also be shared with the Australian Energy Storage Knowledge Bank, which is a nationally supported and publicly available website that publishes energy storage advice and data.

“This is big by our standards, it’s not big by world standards – we’re exploring partnerships with North Africa at the moment,” Mr Rathjen said.

“This is exactly the sort of thing we (The University of Adelaide and the State Government) should be doing together.

“We both benefit, we’re both building a better South Australia, we’re both building a better Mid North.”

The solar farm is expected to be completed in April 2020.