Installations

The Victorian Government has developed new guidelines in an effort to better direct the location, design and assessment of large-scale solar projects in Victoria. The new guidelines are an attempt to ensure future large-scale solar PV projects are more easily accessible to the electricity transmission network.

The Queensland government’s reverse auction got a step closer with the announcement of 10 shortlisted renewable energy proponents as it seeks to bring up another 400 MW of solar and wind energy and battery storage into the market.

All of Kellogg’s energy requirements for its NSW manufacturing operations will come from solar power. The cereal manufacturer has signed a power purchase agreement with the Beryl Solar Farm for the next seven-and-a-half years.

Private sector infrastructure fund manager Infradebt has provided a $7 million senior debt facility for Terregra’s Mobilong and Moyhall solar farms in South Australia.

With the approval for a 176 MW solar farm and 66 MW battery storage facility near Murray Bridge, South Australia’s utility-scale wind and solar pipeline has reached some 10 GW.

As it continues to drive renewables and energy storage, the South Australian government has given its tick of approval for the 280 MW Bungama Solar Farm coupled with a 140MW/560MWh battery storage facility proposed by EPS Energy.

The Northern Territory has given major project status to an ambitious plan to develop a 10 GW solar farm coupled with a 20-30 GWh storage facility near Tennant Creek and export solar power harvested in the Australian desert to Singapore via subsea cables.

Raptor Maps has some 700 MW of Australian solar farms under monitoring by aerial thermal imaging. Compared to the company’s worldwide customer base, Australian PV plant experiences roughly the same average percentage — between 1.5% and 2% — of power affected by faults and defects as global installations.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has laid out a $370 million plan for network upgrades in Western Victoria which would deliver almost double the benefit to both energy consumers and energy producers. However, the proposal has provoked federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor’s attack on the state’s renewable energy target.

With 128 MWp, Numurkah is the largest operating solar farm in Victoria. The project developed by French renewable energy producer Neoen has a major supply contract secured with the Laverton Steelworks and is one of two solar farms supplying 100% renewable energy to offset Melbourne’s entire tram network.