Tasmania wind farms do best in May, Queensland dominates solar rankings

Wind farms in Tasmania have dominated the rankings of Australia’s best performing wind energy assets in the month of May, taking the top two spots and four of the top 10 positions.

The top spot was secured by the Cattle Hill wind farm (pictured above), which edged out the Musselroe wind farm with a capacity factor of 47.8 per cent for the month. The state’s other wind farms at Granville Harbour and Woolnorth also performed well during May.

Western Australia also experienced strong wind conditions, with the Yandin, Mumbida, Warrdarge and Walkaway wind farms, also located north of Perth, appearing in the top 11 for the month.

The small Kiata wind farm, consistently one of the best performers, was the best of the rest.

Even more stunning was the complete dominance of solar farms in Queensland in the rankings of the best performing solar PV sites in the month of May.

Queensland solar farms, led by Moura (capacity factor of 29.4 per cent), Kidston, Ruygby Run and Columboola, took out the top six positions, 12 of the top 13 and all but four of the top 20.

Only Moree, the first solar farm in Australia to be installed with single axis trackers – now standard across the country – interrupted the dominance coming in at number 7 for the month.

According to Rystad Energy analyst David Dixon, Victoria produced the most amount of wind and solar in the month of May, with a total of 1,019GWh, more than 90 per cent of it from its wind farms.

It was the only state to record any meaningful growth in wind generation, jumping 42 per cent since the same month last year thanks to the addition of a number of new wind farms.

Queensland saw the most growth in solar PV, more than doubling its output to 463GWh, up from 228GWh in the same month a year earlier, also thanks to a number of new solar farms and better conditions.