Energy retailer Flow Power has proposed to build a 2.2 megawatt solar farm at the Riverina Oils and Bio Energy refinery at Bomen.

Flow Power stated in its application that the "proposed project aims to reduce energy input costs for the facility and improve the sustainability of the business and its products, which will assist in establishing greater access to overseas markets".

The plans include solar panels that track the sun along a single axis as well as a "minimum 10-metre wide defendable space around the perimeter of the solar array" and a "20,000-litre water tank for fire fighting purpose".

The proposed location is on land between the north edge of Riverina Oils' current operation and the southern edge of the existing Bomen Solar Farm at the corner of Byrnes and Trahairs Road, about nine kilometres north-east of Wagga's central business district.

The project's environmental effects report stated that the project would have a "low" visual impact on properties within a six-kilometre radius and was "not considered to have adverse glare impacts" on six residences with line-of-sight of the project.

"Reflections are predicted to be visible to receivers of the proposed [solar farm] for 0 - 16 minutes a day during certain times of the year, not taking into account any intervening vegetation which may shield or filter these reflections, including vegetation within the properties of the receivers," the report stated.

"These reflections would be viewed in the same line of sight as the late afternoon sun, which is more than 100 times more intense than the solar panel reflections."

"Over the last five years, NSW businesses have seen significant increases in electricity costs, which has been contrast by significant reductions in the cost of renewable energy technologies," Flow Power stated in its application.

"The proposed project will provide a valued local industrial business with the ability to reduce their energy costs and improving the sustainability of the regional supply chain."

Flow Power stated that the current site is cleared agricultural land with "no native vegetation" and introduced grass species that provide "limited habitat for grassland fauna species" while the project's new "native landscaping buffer proposed on the northern, eastern and southern boundaries will provide habitat for native fauna, including birds".

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