Multimedia

Second best month for big solar in Australia as WA facility tops rankings again

Published by

Australia has posted its second best month for large scale solar generation in January, with a total of 1463GWh over the month, just short of the December record of 1509GWh.

Once again it was the biggest solar farm in Western Australia, Sun Energy’s Merredin solar farm, that topped the rankings of best performing solar assets with a capacity factor of 42.2 per cent, just short of the 43.6 per cent it returned in December.

Other strong performers in the latest month – according to Rystad Energy analyst David Dixon – were Amp Energy’s Hillston solar farm in New South Wales (38.8 % AC CF) and the country’s first large scale solar project, the Greenough River solar farm (37.4% AC CF) in W.A.

NSW had five of the best performing solar farms in the month – Hillston, Moree, Corowa, Nevertire and Colleambally – and delivered 632GWh for solar PV in the month.

New utility PV generation records were set in South Australia (95 GWh) and Victoria (194 GWh).

 

 

Giles Parkinson is founder and editor-in-chief of Renew Economy, and founder and editor of its EV-focused sister site The Driven. He is the co-host of the weekly Energy Insiders Podcast. Giles has been a journalist for more than 40 years and is a former deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review. You can find him on LinkedIn and on Twitter.

Giles Parkinson

Giles Parkinson is founder and editor-in-chief of Renew Economy, and founder and editor of its EV-focused sister site The Driven. He is the co-host of the weekly Energy Insiders Podcast. Giles has been a journalist for more than 40 years and is a former deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review. You can find him on LinkedIn and on Twitter.

Share
Published by

Recent Posts

Chart of the Day: Farewell King Coal, long live King Solar (and wind and batteries)

In capacity-addition terms, fossil fuels are now just a thin orange strip at the bottom…

16 June 2026

Data centres could unblock renewables bottlenecks – if they don’t hit barriers of their own

Report says data centres could fix the demand shortage and tenor gap needed to get…

16 June 2026

Farmers welcome “nation-leading” guidelines for wind, solar and batteries – but warn they are not binding

Greater transparency between neighbours and better coordination across industry sectors are among a new set…

16 June 2026

Network tariffs: Imagine if the AEMC was in charge of selling milk

If the AEMC really thinks that we should pay for networks just like we pay…

16 June 2026

Photo of the Day: Australia should allow wind turbine blades to be trucked in convoy

Updated: In China, they deliver wind turbine blades in convoy to project sites. It must…

16 June 2026

Fortescue to lease electric haul trucks as part of land deal with traditional owners

A new land access agreement between Traditional Owners of the Pilbara region and iron ore…

16 June 2026