Utility Scale PV

For Komo Energy founders Jonathan Prendergast and Gerald Arends, today has been equal parts terrifying and exciting. This morning, the solar development startup launched their crowd equity offering.

The 460 MW Western Downs Green Power Hub is set to commence construction imminently, after Neoen achieved financial close on the project. The solar farm is set to be Australia’s largest, and indeed the largest in Neoen’s global portfolio, generating enough solar energy to power every home on the Sunshine Coast.

The island nation has agreed a deal with the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation to develop at least 15 MW of generation capacity in a US$15 million project.

Photon Energy has commenced construction on two Australian solar farms which will deliver a combined capacity of 14 MW in the Riverina region of New South Wales.

Spanish solar EPC X-Elio has confirmed its arrival in the Australian market, announcing a “landmark” power purchase agreement for the output of the 200 MW Blue Grass solar farm in Queensland.

The 13 MW array was deployed in the Selangor state on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The plant is selling power to local utility TNB under a 21-year PPA. The project’s levelized cost of energy is MYR 0.21608 ($0.051).

Ho Chi Minh City-based construction company Trungnam Group said its army of labourers took just 45 days to perform site clearance for a project which took shape within 102 days. The 450 MW solar plant signals a new era in utility-scale solar for Vietnam, which is already seeing significant growth in its rooftop solar markets.

Investment in large-scale solar appears to be faltering in Australia. The technology with the lowest cost, with no emissions and the fastest time to delivery, has often found itself dangling at the oversubscribed end of a limp transmission line, with additional, expensive requirements to connect, or earnings-slashing curtailments when operational. Investors have found no reassurance in the federal government’s winking at coal, courting of gas, and undermining of agencies established to support innovation and investment in renewables. In short, the Australian prime minister is showing a complete lack of urgency to act on climate change. Enter the Renewable Energy Zone.

The Western Australian Government has given environmental approval to the first stage of the Asian Renewable Energy Hub, a 15 GW hybrid solar and wind plant. The approval is a massive step forward for the project, which will eventually reach 26 GW, and an even larger step forward for green hydrogen development in Australia for domestic use and export.

Spanish giant Iberdrola has broken ground on its 317 MW Port Augusta hybrid wind and solar farm, set to be the largest in Australia. The global energy company stressed its desire to increase its renewable presence in Australia on the day, betting on Australia’s potential for a green recovery from the economic strife of Covid-19.