Utility Scale PV

The Beryl Solar Farm, under development in New South Wales, has been purchased by PV asset fund New Energy Solar. 87 MW Beryl is the second Australian First Solar project to be purchased by New, with its 15-year PPA in place attractive to the asset owner.

Chinese module maker Risen Energy has begun major earthworks and site preparation before mounting system installation at the 121.5 MW Yarranlea project in Queensland. While Risen has not tapped local financing for the project, indeed any outside finance at all, the company has highlighted its local contractor workforce, in a statement today.

Greenko Energies will set up India’s largest Integrated Renewable Energy Project (IREP) in Andhra Pradesh at an investment of INR 150 billion (US$2.2 billion). Recently approved by the Andhra Pradesh government, the project will comprise 1,000 MW of solar energy, 550 MW of wind energy and 1,200 MW of standalone pumped storage capacities. It is expected to provide employment to 15,000 people during construction and 3,000 people after construction.

Construction works are expected to start soon on two utility-scale solar PV project in New South Wales with a combined capacity of more than 460 MW, as confirmed by German-based Belectric, which will handle the EPC and O&M duties on both sites.

The Australian arm of German project developer juwi is looking to acquire utility-scale solar PV projects in New South Wales and Victoria.

A hugely-ambitious plan to develop a 200 MW PV array and 120 MWh battery system in South Australia has received development approval. The project developer, which is hosted by the University of Adelaide’s ThincLab accelerator, reports that the $450 million project is privately financed with a 60/40 merchant/PPA structure – a significant milestone for the market segment.

Grimm Power and Xuan Cau began construction on two solar PV plants in the southern province of Tay Ninh.

Former manufacturing giant establishes a foothold in the promising Australian market, and says it is in talks with developer Biosar about supplying further modules for projects in the nation.

Australia’s first large-scale project to use pumped hydro to store solar generated power, the Kidston facility in north Queensland, has landed more than half a billion dollars in concessional finance from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.

On the back of the massive supply deal, the Spanish manufacturer has announced it has crossed the 1 GW threshold for photovoltaic inverter shipments to Australia.