The new solar farms will create more than 330 new construction jobs, save 342,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas being produced a year, produce 357,000 megawatt hours of electricity and have more than 500,000 solar panels between them.

Planning Minister Rob Stokes and Industry, Resources and Energy Minister Anthony Roberts said the projects showed NSW was a national leader in large-scale solar.

“NSW is Australia’s large-scale solar leader, with the country’s three largest solar farms and hundreds of megawatts of solar electricity capacity online and in the pipeline,” Stokes said.

“We want to make people’s lives better through good planning, and these projects will increase electricity capacity, cut greenhouse emissions and create jobs for local communities.”

Roberts said the projects had a combined capital investment value of more than $300 million.

“Solar is a key part of NSW’s energy mix and will become even more important into the future. I’m delighted to see these projects getting the green light,” Roberts said.

The approved projects include: White Rock Solar Farm at Glen Innes, Griffith Solar Farm, southeast of Griffith Riverina Solar Farm, southeast of Griffith, and Parkes Solar Farm near Parkes.