NSW solar plants top generation charts as coal heads for the exit door

New South Wales had a bumper solar production month in March, showing off the state’s renewable energy generation chops as the grid prepares for a major coal exit this month.

According to Rystad Energy’s David Dixon, solar farms in NSW occupied seven spots in the March tally of the top 10 best performing PV assets, and were nudged out of the very top spot by Sun Energy’s Merredin solar farm in Western Australia.

Merredin, a regular leader in Dixon’s monthly solar charts, led the March stakes with an average capacity factor of 34.6% for the month, followed by two NSW projects.

Amp Energy’s 120MW Hillston Solar Farm in the Riverina region of south-western NSW had a capacity factor of 34% across March, according to the data, while Neoen’s 36MW Giffith solar farm, also in the Riverina district, took third place with 30.9% CF.

All up, Dixon says, NSW generated 518GWh from utility-scale solar over the month, helping the state top all other states and territories with a total combined renewables output in March of 1010GWh (492GWh from wind).

As Dixon notes, it’s a big month for the New South Wales grid, with AGL’s three remaining units at Liddell (1.5GW) exiting the market.

“The coal power station has generated on average 571GWh per month since Jan 2022 or 9.9% of generation in NSW,” Dixon notes, adding “expect increasing volatility in New South Wales.”

CORRECTION: This article has been updated to show that the Griffith solar farm is 36MW. A previous version of the article incorrectly stated that it was 275MW.