After the first attempt failed, outback town gives renewables another go

Ergon's Kein Jones says the new Windorah solar farm can generate five times as much electricity as the old solar array and save 150,000 litres of diesel. (ABC Western Queensland: Jay Carstens )

The outback town of Windorah will halve its annual fuel bill with a 850-kilowatt solar and battery storage system.

The project replaces a failed solar array from almost two decades ago but locals are disappointed the fuel savings won't be passed on to help lower their power bills.

Hopes are the new system will make the remote community more resilient during major floods as Ergon prepares to roll out similar projects across other diesel-reliant towns.

It's not the first time this stretch of sunburnt country in outback Queensland has been tipped as ideal for solar.

While previous attempts have failed, almost 2,000 panels now shimmer against the red dirt, feeding into Windorah's isolated energy grid.

Engineers and locals hope this solar and battery project will deliver the resilience the community needs, despite no expectations of lower power bills.

The new Windorah 850-kilowatt solar farm and one-megawatt battery system is expected to power the town for days at a time when demand is low during winter. (ABC Western Queensland: Jay Carstens )

Ergon Energy senior engineer Kein Jones said the new installation would cut fuel use from the town's diesel generators by more than 50 per cent.

"The whole community [of 100 people] will be powered from the solar farm for days and potentially weeks when the loads are low and the weather's sunny," Mr Jones said.

The 850-kilowatt solar farm and one-megawatt battery storage system have been three years in the making as part of a state- funded shift from diesel in remote Queensland.

"It's a pretty exciting milestone for us now to transition into utilising that system to power the community," Mr Jones said.

Windorah, about 1,200 kilometres west of Brisbane, became well known locally for its solar array project — large metal 'sunflower-like' dishes constructed on the edge of town in 2009 as part of an experimental energy project.

The large dishes of Windorah's failed solar array project were dismantled to make way for the new solar farm. (ABC Western Qld: Cameron Simmons)

Mr Jones said expensive upkeep, inefficient power generation and faltering market interest meant, more than a decade later, the accidental tourist attraction was being dismantled.

"The sunflower part of it were all mirrors, and those mirrors reflected sunlight back into a very small solar panel, which was called a solar concentrator, to produce electric