Queensland blows through wind drought to top the charts for May – shines on solar, too

Three cheers for Queensland! The latest data on the top performing wind and solar generators in Australia shows the effects of the so-called “wind drought” that struck late in May, but it also adds weight to the theory that the wind is always blowing somewhere; in this case, in the Sunshine state.

Rystad Energy analyst David Dixon reports that all utility PV and wind assets generating a total of 3,296 GWh for May, down from 3,517 GWh (-6%) in May 2023 – a result that was to be expected thanks to the notable wind lull in the last week of the month.

What’s interesting is that Dixon’s charts for the top-performing wind assets are not dominated by Western Australia projects, as they usually are, but by wind farms in Queensland – with the state hosting four of the top six assets for the month.

Among them, as you can see in the chart below, are the Kennedy Energy Park, south-west of Townsville, with a capacity factor (CF) of 58%, the Mount Emerald wind farm further north near Palm Cove (56% CF) and the nearby wind farm at Neoen’s Kaban Green Power Hub (51% CF).

Western Australia still has a decent presence in the top 20, including two projects – the Flat Rocks and Yandin wind farms – in the top five. New South Wales also features in the top 10, as does one South Australia project. Victoria is nowhere to be seen.

Source: David Dixon, LinkedIn

For large-scale solar the best performing assets for the month were also in Queensland, Dixon notes, with the state hosting three of the top five assets. The top three assets for May include the Moura solar farm (22.3% AC CF) in Queensland, the Bungala stage 2 solar farm (22.1% AC CF) in South Australia and the Gunnedah solar farm (22.1% AC CF) in New South Wales.

All up, NSW has once again claimed top spot, generating 935 GWh with 429 GWh from utility PV and 506 GWh from wind.