Lilyvale is latest large scale solar farm to begin production in Queensland

Another major solar farm in Queensland has joined the grid, with the 100MW Lilyvale plant – 50km north east of Emerald – beginning production late last week.

The Lilyvale solar farm is being developed by Spanish renewables developer FRV  and has a long term power purchase agreement with state-owned retailer Ergon Energy for all of its output.

This graph below from NEM Review, the providers of our popular NEM-Watch widget, reveals the first few megawatts of capacity being injected into the grid. The solar farm, like all others, will now embark on a rigorous round of testing and various capacity levels before getting final approvals from the Australian Energy Market Operator.

The FRV portfolio includes the 20MW Royalla solar farm in the ACT – the first large scale solar farm in the National Electricity Market, the 56MW Moree solar farm (the first with single axis tracking), and the 100MW Clare solar farm in Queensland, a source of grief for contractor Downer Group because of cost over-runs.

Other undeveloped solar projects in its portfolio include the 100MW Chaff Mill solar project in South Australia, the Winton solar farm in Victoria, and the Baralaba solar project in Queensland.