Utility Scale PV

Renewable energy investors have again shattered the New South Wales Government’s expectations with more than 80 clean energy projects representing more than $100 billion of potential investment registering for the Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone.

Australia has hit a historic milestone, reaching 25GW of installed solar. As the Australian PV Institute noted on Monday, that’s more solar per capita than anywhere else in the world.

Renewable energy production reached record highs in Australia in 2021 with new data from the Climate Council revealing clean technologies including rooftop solar and utility scale PV supplied five times more power into the nation’s largest electricity grid than gas.

Greece-based industrial conglomerate Mytilineos has initiated construction works at its 110 MW Moura Solar Farm in central Queensland as it looks to further cement its position in the Australian renewable energy market.

A group of New South Wales local councils have banded together to secure a power procurement agreement with solar-focused electricity retailer Mojo Power that they say will allow them to satisfy the electricity demands of their major infrastructure with 100% renewable energy while providing a path for participants to reduce their overall emissions.

BloombergNEF’s Jenny Chase has surveyed the state of affairs in world solar for clean energy journal Joule and said the technology’s historic ability to surmount obstacles – and persistently confound analysts’ predictions – should offer a reason for hope.

Mining giant Fortescue Metals Group has unveiled details of a massive 5.4 GW solar PV, wind and battery energy storage project it plans to build to power its iron ore mining operations in Western Australia’s north-west.

Spanish renewable energy company Acciona is using a robot dog, instead of drones, to monitor a solar park in northern Chile. The device has a built-in thermal vision system that generates thermographic reports on the status of the different PV plant components, as it walks between the panel rows following a programmed route.

Thai-owned Ratch Australia has revealed plans to develop a 70 MW solar PV and large-scale battery energy storage project in the heart of Victoria’s coal country after receiving planning approval from the state government for the $105 million Morwell Solar Farm.

Renewable energy investors’ appetite for large-scale development in Australia appears far from sated with the New South Wales Government revealing almost 50 new solar PV, wind and energy storage projects, totalling more than 34 GW, have been proposed for the South-West Renewable Energy Zone.