Utility Scale PV

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) expects to see further declines in Marginal Loss Factors (MLFs) next financial year on a number of grid-scale PV projects, primarily in south-west News South Wales and north-west Victoria.

The second stage of the first grid-scale solar plant in Australia, the Greenough River Solar Farm, will deploy German power electronics, with SMA announcing it has picked up a contract to supply the 30 MW development.

The latest figures released by BloombergNEF show new solar and onshore wind power plants have reached parity with average wholesale prices in California, China and parts of Europe. The technologies are winning the race to be the cheapest sources of new generation for two-thirds of the world’s population.

Genex Power has failed to lock in a previously announced offtake agreement with EnergyAustralia for its landmark Kidston hub in northern Queensland and requested a trading halt with the ASX on their securities.

Across Australia shopping centres are starting to realise their expansive car parks are the perfect solar farms. Not only do the centres get solar energy at peak times, but customers can avoid the real threat of car-related bodily burns by parking in the shade of a solar array.

While it seeks to build one of Australia’s biggest coal mines, Adani has grown more cautious on solar investment after suffering connection delays on its first renewables project in Australia.

One of Queensland’s largest solar developments near Miles has signed up to connect to the state’s publicly-owned electricity grid.

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.