But Greater Hume councillor Tony Quinn has already made sure that if the developer has to pay a levy to the council, the money will go towards maintaining roads in the municipality.

CWP Renewables announced its proposed large-scale solar and storage project for Glenellen, 3.5 kilometres north-east of Jindera, on what it said was “mostly cleared land”.

Development manager Matthew Flower said discussions with residents helped shape the project.

“Our application comes off the back of early engagement with potential hosts, neighbouring landowners and the immediate community,” he said.

A project outline and environmental assessment will be submitted to the NSW Department of Planning and Environment this week to start the development process.

While the Glenellen proposal was not specifically mentioned at last week’s Greater Hume meeting, councillors indicated they knew a big project was in the works.

General manager Stephen Pinnuck said it is "an unknown" whether the council is entitled to a contribution from solar farm developers, but councillors voted to take a stance on how any potential money should be spent

Cr Quinn successfully passed a notice of motion "that council adopt a policy that if a solar farm project is developed in the shire, the section 7-12 contribution be expended on rural and regional roads".

“I put this together knowing full well that there may be no contribution from a solar farm, but I'm also very much aware of the political scene in Australia and roads are going to get next to nothing,” he said. 

“Rural roads, dirt roads where three or four people live down them, are going to get naught. 

“I can see it won't be long before money for roads will be very hard to get, and that’s why I think we should have a policy on the books.”