---
title: Australia’s largest solar farm comes online
description: The first stage of the New England Solar Farm - which will be the biggest solar farm in Australia - has been officially opened.
---
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[](https://blog.greenpeace.org.au/the-canopy)
The Canopy is a weekday morning email newsletter provided by the team at Greenpeace Australia Pacific.
# Australia’s largest solar farm comes online
Friday, 17 March 2023
The first stage of the New England Solar Farm - which will be the biggest solar farm in Australia - has been officially opened and will be operating at its full capacity of up to 400MW within months.
The new owner of a coal-fired power station 100 kilometres north of Sydney is refusing to back a commitment to close the plant in 2029, despite concerns from an environmental lawyer and community groups.
New research from the University of the Sunshine Coast, in partnership with the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation, has found cultural burning is safer for koalas and better for people, and has benefits like social connections between generations, reducing the risk of megafires and supporting low-carbon economies.
**Top stories:**
[Australia’s largest solar farm comes online](https://reneweconomy.com.au/australias-biggest-solar-farm-powers-up-to-help-replace-new-south-wales-coal/)
The first stage of Australia’s largest solar development has gone live. The New England solar farm is being developed in two stages, with the first 400MW of storage now completed.
[Vales Point Power Station new owner wont promise to close the plant](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-16/new-vales-point-power-station-owner-wont-commit-to-2029-closure/102105312)
The new owner of a coal-fired power station 100 kilometres north of Sydney is refusing to back a commitment to close the plant in 2029.
[Cultural burning is safer for koalas, better for people](https://au.news.yahoo.com/cultural-burning-safer-koalas-better-190403483.html)
New research has found ancestral cultural burning is better for koalas and people, following a study on Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island) on Quandamooka Country.
[East coast forecast to swelter through autumn heatwave](http://theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/17/australia-weather-forecast-east-coast-autumn-heatwave)
Australia’s east coast is bracing for a heatwave, with at least three states set to swelter in the coming days. Maximum temperatures are forecast to exceed 35C in parts of New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria, with the Pilbara region in Western Australia also due for a scorcher.
[Oyster mushrooms expected to break down toxins and microplastics in cigarette butts in Australian trial](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/16/oyster-mushrooms-expected-to-break-down-toxins-and-microplastics-in-cigarette-butts-in-australian-trial)
Up to 1.2m cigarette butts could be consumed by oyster mushrooms that break down toxins and microplastics as part of a trial funded by the Victorian government.
[Wollongong residents angry over reports Port Kembla will be east coast base for Aukus subs](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/17/wollongong-residents-react-angrily-to-reports-port-kembla-will-be-east-coast-base-for-aukus-subs)
Unions and business groups in Wollongong have rejected the prospect of Port Kembla becoming the east coast base for Australia’s nuclear submarines, warning it could displace offshore wind jobs.
[Majority of Lord Howe Island off limits to visitors due to 'highly infectious' plant disease](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-16/lord-howe-island-partly-closed-due-to-myrtle-rust-nsw/102098242)
The majority of world-heritage-listed Lord Howe Island has been closed to non-essential visitors due to the escalating risk of an invasive, disease-causing fungus — myrtle rust.
[English class action against BHP now ‘the largest in history’](https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/english-class-action-against-bhp-now-the-largest-in-history-20230315-p5cs82)
Turning overseas, the England-based class action against BHP is “the largest in history”, say the lawyers behind the suit, after they added half a million new claimants in the past three months.
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