Graph of the Day: Australia’s top performing solar and wind farms in April

New data is out on the top performing large-scale renewable energy generation assets in Australia in April, with solar honours going to the 50MW Kidston project in Far North Queensland and wind led by the 530MW Stockyard Hill project in Victoria.

Rystad Energy senior analyst David Dixon said on LinkedIn this week that in a month of notably high wholesale energy prices, Genex Power’s Kidston had recorded a capacity factor of 26.4%.

Kidston, installed next to the former gold mine of the same name that will host a pumped hydro project, also got a special mention from owners Genex, in February, for performing well over summer despite the La Niña conditions.

Next on the list of top solar performers for April come two Western Australia projects: the Greenough River solar farm, with a capacity factor of 25.5%, and the Merredin solar farm (25.4%).

In wind, the massive but much delayed Stockyard Hill project – which is currently operating at roughly 100MW below its nameplate capacity –  notched up a 48.4% capacity factor in Victoria’s south west, securing top spot for the month.

Next best were APA Group’s 130MW Badgingarra (44.5% CF) project and Infrastructure Capital Group’s 55MW Mumbida wind farm (43.5%) both in Western Australia.

Dixon says that at a state level, NSW was the top performer, generating 820GWh of utility-scale solar and wind power for the month, followed by Victoria (713GWh) and South Australia (511GWh).

“Notably it was the highest month of wholesale prices on our records (back to 2011) for the month April for all states except Tasmania,” Dixon said.