A solar farm has officially opened in The Basin, four years after planning first began.
The 11,000 700-watt bifacial solar panels have been positioned on land that has been owned and operated as a farm by The Salvation Army since 1890.
As an eight-hectare solar farm, it did receive some negative community feedback during the consultation period to change the zoning in late 2024.
The Salvation Army said the solar farm was the result of years of work to reinvent this unused space to create a positive environmental, economic, and social impact.
National Leader of the Salvation Army, Commissioner Miriam Gluyas, said at the launch of the project on Friday 21 November that this was a milestone in The Salvation Army’s efforts towards environmental sustainability.
“This project is important to The Salvation Army because of our ‘Creation Care’ ethos, a belief to be honoured by treading lightly on the planets resources and doing our utmost to ensure that operations cause the least harm to the environment,” she said.
“This solar farm is a bold step towards doing our part to reduce our contribution to climate change and fight for justice for the most vulnerable in our communities who are most significantly affected by its impacts, while also generating savings that can go right back into the services that help these communities.”
Construction began in early 2025, and the solar farm is expected to be switched on in early December. Once on, it is expected to generate savings of approximately $1.5 million per year that can be funnelled back into The Salvation Army’s core social services.
Alongside the many rooftop solar systems installed on Salvation Army properties, the solar farm will effectively eliminate The Salvation Army’s electricity emissions in Victoria, reducing overall emissions by over 7000 tonnes per year and contributing significantly to their national goal of 90 per cent reduction of all emissions.
Some residents had concerns about the proposed changes that ranged from worries about the extent of the land use, interrupted views of the Dandenong Ranges, the bypassing of Knox Council, the future of the cattle that were grazing there and some of the changes proposed for areas of vegetation on the property.
Knox Environment Society president Richard Farrager told Star Mail in December last year, that while KES is generally in favour of solar farms they had some concerns around the space.
“There is the importance of this landscape view to the community looking out across the rural landscape to the magnificent backdrop of the Dandenong Ranges,” he said.
“We have a concern that once the precedence has been set then more development on this site may take place.”
Resident Lynette Hayhurst also said at the time of consultation that her and others had concerns centring around the way the engagement took place and wanted more constructive communication so that the community felt heard.
“Fellow residents have told me that this is a major change in this town, but they’re not letting everybody know about it,” she said.
The Salvation Army said great care was taken by the organisation to ensure the farm was constructed in such a way to minimise interference with the views of local residents or disturbance to the ground and any potential artifacts preserved in the soil.
