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On what might have been the best day for Whyalla since the sale of Arrium to GFG Alliance, SIMEC Zen Energy unveiled the first project of Sanjeev Gupta’s $1 billion, 1GW dispatchable renewable energy program. The 280MW Cultana Solar Farm project will create 350 direct jobs during its construction phase and 10 ongoing operation and maintenance positions, and will be the size of 550 Adelaide Ovals. The project was one of three key announcements made on Wednesday, with Premier Steven Marshall revealing the state government will fund a $100 million 7-12 high school in Whyalla. GFG Alliance and the Whyalla City Council also announced a major partnership that will see GFG’s Liberty Primary Steel operations donate the steel required for the city’s new jetty. Mr Marshall and Mr Gupta joined Whyalla Mayor Lyn Breuer to launch the Cultana project, which joins a number of renewable energy projects planned for the region by SIMEC ZEN Energy. Mr Gupta said the announcement was symbolic of the company’s desire to invest in new‐generation energy assets aimed at bringing Australia’s electricity prices down to competitive levels. The solar project will provide 600GWh of energy generation per year – enough energy to power over 96,000 homes – from 780,000 solar panels. Mr Gupta said renewable energy was the cheapest form of power for facilities such as the Whyalla Steelworks. “We have a strong conviction that traditional carbon‐intensive generation sources do not have a long‐term future as the predominant source of power in Australia and globally,” he said. “We believe the world is undergoing a momentous transition to renewable power.” Premier Steven Marshall said the state government were keen to see more generation capacity in South Australia to support lowering power prices. Mayor Lyn Breuer said the project announcement marked Whyalla’s significant turnaround over the past year. “We’re going from wondering what’s going to happen to our people because we don’t have any jobs, to now wondering where we’re going to get all the people to fill these jobs,” she said.

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