Australia’s best-performing, large-scale PV assets

The top-performing solar farm in Australia in April was Genex Power’s Kidston project in Queensland, according to Rystad Energy Analyst Dave Dixon, who noted that total generation from solar and wind assets in Australia grew by 23% year on year.

May 10, 2022 Bella Peacock

Image: Rystad Energy

From pv magazine Australia

Rystad Energy has named the top-performing solar farms in April, with Western Australia’s Greenough River 1 and Merredin arrays coming in second and third behind Queensland’s 50 MW Kidston project.

The AC capacity factor at Kidston, which is owned by Genex Power, increased by 26.4% compared to last year. The Kidston Solar One Project is an integral generator for the Kidston pumped hydro project.

Growing slightly less at 25.5% AC capacity factor was the 10 MW Greenough River 1, owned by Bright Energy Investments (a joint venture between DIF Infrastructure, Synergy and Cbus Super). Similarly, the 100 MW AC Merredin Solar Farm, which was last year bought by Sun Energy from Risen, saw its capacity factor increase by 25.4%.

The analysis came from Rystad Energy Analyst Dave Dixon, who noted that overall, April 2022 ended with all Australian utility PV and wind assets generating 2,895 GWh, “up from 2,345 GWh (+23%) in April 2021,” Dixon said on LinkedIn. At a state level, New South Wales was the top performing state, generating 820 GWh from utility solar and wind, Dixon said. Victoria came in second with 713 GWh, and South Australia third with 511 GWh.

In terms of wind, the top utility assets were mostly in Western Australia and Victoria, with Western Australia taking out four of the top seven spots.

“The best performing utility wind assets for the month were Goldwind’s / Nebras Power QSC Stockyard Hill 1 wind farm (48.4% CF) in Victoria, followed by APA Group’s Badgingarra (44.5% CF) and Infrastructure Capital Group’s Mumbida wind farm (43.5% CF) both located in Western Australia,” Dixon noted.

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