NSW dominates big solar output as other states switch off due to negative prices

NSW has dominated the rankings of big solar output in September, almost Steven Bradbury-like as its competitors knocked themselves out of the running due to negative average prices over the month.

According to the latest data from energy analysts Rystad Energy, solar farms in NSW accounted for 14 of the top 20 facilities in terms of output – as measured by capacity factor – in the month of September.

And it’s not necessarily because NSW had the most sun or the best conditions. According to Rystad it is because all the other states in Australia’s main grids experienced average negative prices for the month of September.

Rystad’s David Dixon says NSW was the only state where solar farms received an average positive price in September, meaning fewer had to be curtailed because of economic reasons. (Some wind and solar farms are obliged by their terms of their off-take agreements to turn off when prices go below zero).

Dixon says the average price in NSW over the month was $17/MWh, even though the number of hours of negative prices still hit a record 105 hours in the state during the month (or 3.5 hours a day).

The biggest number of hours of negative prices was in South Australia (223 hours, or nearly eight hours a day), followed by Queensland (212 hours, a record for that state), Victoria (208 hours), Tasmania (86 hours) and Western Australia (84 hours).

The average price for large scale solar for the month in Queensland was lowest at minus $6.30/MWh, while in South Australia it was minus $2.10/MWh and in Victoria it was minus $3.90/MWh. The negative prices during the day are mostly caused by the growth of rooftop solar.

The top rating solar farm in the month – Edenvale – is actually in Queensland, and one of the newest in the state. It was closely followed by the Moree solar farm in NSW and the Griffith, Metz and Nevertire solar farms, all in NSW.

The strong solar performance helped NSW lead the way in aggregate production from wind and solar, with a total of 1,106 GWh, including 650 GWh from solar PV and 456 GWh from wind.

The best performing wind assets were in actually in Queensland and Tasmania, with the list again topped by the Cattle Hill wind farm in Tasmania.

This was followed by the Granville Harbour wind farm, also in Tasmania, and the Mt Emerald wind farm in Queensland, which had five wind facilities in the top 20, including the newest wind projects at Kaban and Dulacca.