W.A.’s largest solar farm – Emu Downs – opens for business

Emu Downs solar and wind farm.

The largest solar farm in Western Australia – the 20MW Emu Downs facility north of Perth – has been completed and is a key part of what will become one of the largest wind-solar precincts in the country.

The new Badgingarra wind farm is being built on the other side of Bibby Road.

Emu Downs is the first solar farm to be co-located with a wind farm in WA, and in fact will be co-located with two different projects: the existing 80MW Emu Downs wind farm and the 130MW Badgingarra wind farm, now being built.

That 230MW wind-solar precinct will make it the largest of its type in Australia, beating the completed Gullen Range wind-solar project, and the White Rock wind-solar project that is nearing completion in northern NSW.

Emu Downs is also the first of the 12 large-scale solar farms funded under ARENA landmark solar program that has been credited with achieving a significant and rapid cost fall, and helping to bring dozens of other projects to market.

All the other projects in the ARENA funding round are under construction or have reached financial close. Three, in Griffith, Parkes and Dubbo in western NSW, are believed to be nearly complete.

Emu Downs – located 200km north of Perth near the town of Cervantes – is the second large-scale solar farm to be constructed on WA’s main grid. Greenough River near Geraldton, was built in 2012 and was the first large-scale solar farm in the country.

But Emu Downs’ status as the biggest in the state will not last long. A 30MW project at Byford, a 120MW project near Merredin by Stellata, and a 100MW project from Sun Brilliance are all expected to be complete within the next year. And Greenough River is also expanding.

Emu Downs solar and wind farm.

ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said the completion of the Emu Downs Solar Farm was a significant milestone for renewables in Australia.

“Before ARENA’s strong investment, large-scale solar remained in its infancy in Australia,” he said in a statement.

“The competitive round was critical in supporting the technology to becoming competitive and helping to close the gap that exists between large-scale solar PV and other commercially competitive forms of power generation, including wind energy.

“Beyond just funding a dozen new solar farms, this round acted as a catalyst to kickstart the large-scale solar industry in Australia, dramatically reducing the price of solar energy.”

Six years ago, there was just 10MW of solar in Australia, whereas this year there will be over 1800MW, with over 10GW in the pipeline.

(In fact, there is probably more than 20GW all told, including very early stage projects. Access the RenewEconomy/SunWiz data base for more details).

APA Group received $5.5 million towards the construction of Emu Downs – out of a total $92 million allocated by ARENA to projects totalling 492MW.

APA has entered into a 13-year power purchase agreement to sell electricity and renewable certificates generated by the solar farm to energy provider Synergy.

The farm uses single axis tracking technology from NextTracker and the company says the solar farm will fill the “energy gap” between the stronger wind patterns in the morning and afternoon in the region.

“APA is grateful for ARENA’s support over a number of years to get this exciting project, APA’s first solar farm, constructed and delivering an enhanced energy solution from our combined wind and solar farm,” APA CEO Mick McCormack said in a statement.

APA also owns the 110MW Darling Downs solar farm in Queensland, which is due for completion later this year.

Comments

19 responses to “W.A.’s largest solar farm – Emu Downs – opens for business”

  1. RobertO Avatar
    RobertO

    Hi Giles
    APA Group received $5.5 million towards the construction of Emu Down – out of a total $92 million allocated by ARENA to protest totalling 492MW.
    What Protest? (Projects?)

    1. Giles Avatar

      Bloody hell. That’s the third time i’ve been over-ruled by spell check. It is supposed to be projects. Picked that up twice already but it is persistent!

      1. Hettie Avatar
        Hettie

        No substitute for proof reading, I’m afraid.
        Such a pain.

        1. Giles Avatar

          The issue in this case is that the spellcheck changes some words as the article is being saved.

          1. Hettie Avatar
            Hettie

            Eek. My experience of auto correct is limited to my smart phone.
            Can always read over before posting, and in many cases, edit. As here.
            Saving what it thinks you should have written is orders of magnitude worse.

          2. Miles Harding Avatar
            Miles Harding

            We shouldnt be too quick to turn off auto-correct. Sometimes it is actually insightful:
            Just recently, it autocorrected ‘iinet’ to ‘inept’ – a good match for our experience.

          3. Hettie Avatar
            Hettie

            LOL. I did, in fact.

      2. MaxG Avatar
        MaxG

        Maybe your personal dictionary needs editing?!

  2. GlennM Avatar
    GlennM

    I find it amazing how quickly our perspective changes. I remember in the long distant past (2016) when 20 MW was a big deal….now it seems like a small hobby installation !

  3. Chris Drongers Avatar
    Chris Drongers

    Amazingly quick. I went past there two years ago. Zip.Nada. Now a functioning solar power station.
    If a coal plant was to be built the planners would still be scoping the coal mill and bunkers with the boilers on a three year back order.

  4. Steve Applin Avatar
    Steve Applin

    Does anyone know when this project is going to show up on NEM Watch? Or is the output counted under wind output?

    1. Hettie Avatar
      Hettie

      WA is not part of the NEM.

      1. Steve Applin Avatar
        Steve Applin

        You are right on proof reading, WA’s generation being the top bar on NEM Watch. Best get your facts straight before criticising someone else.

        1. Hettie Avatar
          Hettie

          My bad. My scrutiny of NEM Watch is limited to NSW, well down the list.
          So I had not noticed that WA data appear there.
          And WA is NOT part of the NEM.
          That is a simple statement of fact, not a criticism of any person.

    2. JeffJL Avatar
      JeffJL

      Check out the AEMO web site. It has a great data dashboard for WA.

      1. Steve Applin Avatar
        Steve Applin

        When I looked at the WEM data dashboard couple of days ago the solar production was not split out.

        It’s undoubtedly separately metered, just not appearing at the moment and I’m a nosy observer.

  5. gusnbetsy Avatar

    not the biggest… Landinsights (specialists in solar farm approvals) have helped get a quick approval for 350mw solar farm in north of Perth.

    1. Giles Avatar

      yes, but it hasn’t been built yet has it

      1. Steve Applin Avatar
        Steve Applin

        Nothing about FID either, I won’t be holding my breath.

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