Utility Scale PV

The Clean Energy Council aims to establish benefit sharing, tailored to local contexts, as a feature of Australia’s renewable-energy projects. Its prescient and concise “how-to” guide builds on the industry’s successes so far.

With 2019 already a record year for utility solar, wind and storage project proposals, Norwegian-based energy analyst Rystad Energy predicts Australia’s renewables boom could see coal-fired generation extinct by 2040. According to the Australian National University (ANU), the unprecedented growth in generation from wind and solar can slash Australia’s carbon emissions by 4% over the next few years, but the Clean Energy Council sees things differently.

The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has made a final rule to improve publicly available information about new utility-scale projects, making it easier for wind and solar developers to decide on where to locate new generators and avoid cost blowouts amid grid congestion and connection challenges.

Australian renewables developer Windlab has announced further delays on its landmark energy park in north Queensland after its EPC contractor failed to secure a fully functioning connection agreement.

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has released its 2018-19 Annual Report on its investment into Australia’s clean energy transition. The report laud’s CEFC investment and provides optimistic reading for the energy transition.

The Australian utility-scale PV and wind industries have just gone through a record two years of construction and commissioning. More specifically, writes Rystad Energy’s David Dixon, utility-scale PV has transformed from a megawatt-scale market to one measured in gigawatts. The resultant boom in utility-scale PV in the country has attracted developers, EPCs and OEMs, from at home and across the globe.

Lightsource BP has signed financing agreements to develop its first utility-scale solar project in Australia. The 200 MW solar farm, near Wellington, New South Wales, is the largest single plant to be financed by the U.K. solar developer to date and one of the biggest projects in Australia to use bifacial PV.

Welcome to Australia’s largest national showcase of renewable energy at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Follow pv magazine live to keep updated on the latest Aussie solar PV and storage developments and trends from this year’s event, as they happen. Stay tuned!

German inverter giant SMA Solar Technology reports that the Australian large scale solar market has exceeded its expectations in 2019, as big PV projects continue to move forward despite regulatory uncertainty. Boris Wolff, SMA Executive Vice President for utility scale and projects considers Australia a “blueprint” market for the company’s expanded modeling and grid connection services.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has undertaken a review on how Australia compares with other international power systems and suggested that the theoretical limits on wind and solar penetration may need to be defined with an eye on the power system stability.