Sun shone on NSW solar farms in March, while wind again blew best out west

Solar farms in New South Wales have completed dominated the output rankings for the month of March, accounting for 15 of the top 20 solar facilities in the country.

The list, compiled by energy analyst David Dixon at Rystad, shows that Iberdrola’s Avonlie solar farm in NSW was the best performing solar facility in the country during the month, achieving a capacity factor of 32.3 per cent.

It was followed by Sun Energy ’s Merredin solar farm (31.8 per cent capacity factor) in Western Australia and Metka’s Corowa solar farm in NSW (31.6 per cent).

Other notable entries on the top 20 list include the newly commissioned Tailem Bend 2 solar farm, the only facility from South Australia to make the top 20, while Blue Grass was the only facility from Queensland. Two Victoria solar farms – Gannawarra and Glenrowan West – made the cut.

Capacity factors can be influenced by the weather and the amount of sunshine, as well as wholesale prices and network constraints. Many solar farms are obliged, or choose to, switch off when wholesale prices fall below a certain level.

As for wind farms, Western Australia dominated the top 20 list with six of the top seven, including a stunning return of 60 per cent capacity factor from Alinta and Ratch Energy’s Yandin wind farm north of Perth. The newly connected Flat Rocks wind farm also performed well.

It was the first time the Yandin wind farm reached 60 per cent CF in a single month, although other wind farms such as Kiata, Cullerin Range, Woodlawn, Walkaway, Badgingarra and Moreton’s Lane have bettered that figure in the past.

Queensland performed better in wind output than it did in solar output, with the Kennedy, Coopers Gap and the new Dulacca wind farms all in the top 10, while South Australia had seven entries in the top 20. NSW had two (Sapphire and White Rock), Tasmania one (Woolworth), and Victoria none in the top 20.

Dixon says the combined output of all Australian utility scale solar PV and wind assets was 4,102 GWh in March, a rise of 17 per cent from the 3,512 GWh produced in the same period a year ago.

He says there were new monthly (March) records for utility solar generation were set in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia, mostly due to better performance from the assets rather than more solar farms.

There were new monthly (March) records for utility wind generation in Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia, mostly due to new wind capacity energising over the prior 12 months. This includes Octopus Energy’ Dulacca in Queensland & Enel Green Power’s Flat Rocks wind farm in Western Australia. 

At a state level NSW was in top spot generating 1,160 GWh with 670 GWh from utility PV and 490 GWh from wind.