New Norcia night

ESA’s deep-space ground station at New Norcia, Western Australia, is now being powered in part by sunlight, thanks to a new solar power ‘farm’ completed in August 2017.

The farm has 840 photovoltaic panels arranged in five double rows with a rated capacity of 250 kW. This is expected to generate 470 MWh of electricity annually, about 40% of the station’s annual needs and equal to the electricity needed to power 134 typical households.