Developer ESCO Pacific will submit a planning permit application to Horsham Rural City Council within the next month to use land east of the city for the project.

The company plans to construct the farm next to an electrical sub-station on the corner of Horsham-Lubeck and Riverside roads.

Company representatives hosted a community meeting about the development in Horsham on Wednesday night.

ESCO Pacific head of development Allison Hawke said the company planned to start building the 130-megawatt farm in late 2018.

She said the farm would use solar photovoltaic technology, which tracked the sun as it moved across the sky.

“The farm will create clean electricity, generating enough electricity to power the equivalent of 60,000 households,” she said.

“The federal and state governments are pushing decentralised investment in clean energy, and the Horsham sub-station was identified as having the capacity to carry load.

“It was also an ideal location in terms of being on flat land and outside built-up town areas.”

Ms Hawke said the company was pleased with the turn-out at Wednesday’s meeting in Horsham Town Hall.

“We had between 40 and 50 people attend, including people on the neighbouring land and other interested people,” she said.

Ms Hawke said ESCO Pacific expected a decision from council about its permit application before the end of the year.

“If we have a favourable outcome, construction could start later in 2018,” she said.

“If we secure planning approval, we then need to look at finding the right investor to partner with on the project, and running a tender for the lead construction contractor.

“Once the lead contractor is identified, we’ll be working with stakeholder groups in the area and forming relationships with existing sub-contractors who can help in the process.

“We also need to complete grid studies to ensure the connection is resilient.”

Ms Hawke said ESCO Pacific was working on similar solar projects in northern Victoria, NSW, the ACT and in Queensland.

“Our company's most advanced project is the Ross River solar farm, about half an hour south of Townsville,” she said.

“Construction there started this week.”

ESCO Pacific formed in 2015 and specialises in ground-mounted, utility-scale solar farms.