An interstate property firm has designs on establishing a solar project alongside the existing Sunshine Coast Solar Farm.
VIMG owns nearly 100 hectares of former sugar cane farm between Yandina-Coolum Road and Dynes Road, Valdora, east of the solar farm owned by the Sunshine Coast Council.
The company’s website says “VIMG plans to develop this site into a solar project that complements the surrounding solar farm”.
A recent unsuccessful application by a model aero club to set up a base at Valdora was on land owned by VIMG.
Sunshine Coast News contacted VIMG for comment on its solar energy project but no response had been received at the time of publication.
The Sunshine Coast Council said it had not been part of any talks about more solar farming near its existing farm.
“Sunshine Coast Council has not been in discussion with VIMG or any other vendors about constructing an additional solar farm or an extension to council’s existing solar farm at 909 Yandina-Coolum Road, Valdora,” a council spokesperson said.
VIMG’s experience in the renewable energy space is unclear from its website.
The website says that in 2021 the company acquired a logistic centre at Monarto South in South Australia that had been used by Big W, and it planned to repurpose the building into a renewable energy project and data centre.
However, the website says another company, VALO, has moved in on a seven-year lease, doubling the revenue from the property.
The “renewables” section of the company’s website also includes Lancelin South, Western Australia, 8700 hectares of development reserve land and 1775 hectares of holiday development land.
The website says the company has secured a development permit for 4000 large-scale “community developments” across multiple stages and is preparing applications for “tens of thousands more” but does not mention a renewable energy project.
Other VIMG projects include the twin towers of Nelson Place in Chatswood, Sydney; the 320-unit Parkside complex at Macquarie Park, Sydney; and The Peak, a 43-storey residential tower in Melbourne.
Company documents show VIMG is owned by Chinese-born Yi Qiang.
The company’s head office is in Sydney but it has offices in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Guangzhou in China.
A statement on the company’s website says: “Our passion lies in developing distinctive, contemporary and highly sought-after projects across residential, commercial, industrial and renewable energy sectors.”
