New wind farm tops charts for best performance in July, Queensland slam-dunks solar

One of Australia’s newest wind farms has topped the ranks for best performing wind energy assets in July, with Enel Green Power’s Flat Rocks project in Western Australia notching up a capacity factor (CF) of 55.2 per cent for the month.

The 76 MW wind farm near Konjonup is contracted to help power BHP’s Nickel West operations – the largest nickel producer by volume in Western Australia – and it appears to be off to a flying start. It featured in the top three best performing assets for May, too. Seems a shame that the Nickel West operations are being suspended.

The latest data from Rystad Energy senior analyst David Dixon puts Flat Rocks at the top of the pile for wind assets in July, a month that saw all Australian utility PV and wind assets generating 4,221 GWh, up from 4,053 GWh (+4%) in July 2023.

Remarkably, Flat Rocks was the only WA wind farm to make the rankings in both wind and solar this month. Rather, five the of the best-performing assets were located in South Australia – including Atmos Renewables / Neoen’s Hornsdale stage 1 (CF 51.4%). And Atmos’ Kiata wind in Victoria took out third place on the chart.

Dixon’s rankings for the best performing large-scale solar assets around the country reveal a sea of maroon, with 18 of the top 20 solar farms located in Queensland. Topping the charts for July is Adani Group’s Rugby Run (23.9% AC CF), followed by Metka’s Moura (22.9% AC CF) and X-Elio’s Blue Grass (22.7% AC CF).

In terms of generation, however, Victoria took top spot in July, generating a total of 1,146 GWh for the month – 90 GWh of it from utility PV and 1,056 GWh from wind.