Home › Posts tagged Sunraysia Solar Farm

Sunraysia Solar Farm

The biggest solar farms in New South Wales.

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

New South Wales is one of the largest states in Australia and has been making significant strides in the field of renewable energy, particularly with solar power. With plenty of sunshine and vast open spaces, the state has become an ideal location for large-scale solar power plants. Here are some of the biggest solar power plants in New South Wales:

  1. Sunraysia Solar Farm: Located in Balranald, Sunraysia is one of the largest solar farms in Australia. With 1.2 million solar panels spread over 2,000 hectares, the farm has a total capacity of 200 MW.
  2. Limondale Solar Farm: Developed by French company Neoen, Limondale Solar Farm has a total capacity of 249 MW. The farm is spread across 900 hectares near Balranald and uses 872,000 solar panels.
  3. Wellington Solar Farm: Located near the town of Wellington, this solar farm has a total capacity of 174 MW. The farm is owned by Lightsource BP, and has more than 500,000 solar panels.
  4. Coleambally Solar Farm: Developed by Neoen, Coleambally Solar Farm has a total capacity of 189 MW. The farm is spread across 550 hectares and uses 567,800 solar panels.
  5. Griffith Solar Farm: Located in Yoogali, Griffith Solar Farm has a total capacity of 36 MW. The farm is spread across 104 hectares and uses 120,000 solar panels.
  6. Parkes Solar Farm: Owned by Canadian Solar, Parkes Solar Farm has a total capacity of 66 MW. The farm is spread across 210 hectares and uses 206,000 solar panels.
  7. Dubbo Solar Hub: Developed by FRV, Dubbo Solar Hub is located near Dubbo and has a total capacity of 57.5 MW. The farm uses 195,000 solar panels spread over 150 hectares.
  8. Gunnedah Solar Farm: Located near the town of Gunnedah, this solar farm has a total capacity of 45 MW. The farm uses 150,000 solar panels spread over 90 hectares.
  9. White Rock Solar Farm: Developed by Goldwind Australia, White Rock Solar Farm has a total capacity of 20 MW. The farm is spread across 43 hectares and uses 77,000 solar panels.
  10. Beryl Solar Farm: Owned by New Energy Solar, Beryl Solar Farm has a total capacity of 110 MW. The farm is located near Gulgong and uses 319,000 solar panels.

These solar power plants have been crucial in reducing Australia’s carbon emissions, and have made significant contributions towards the country’s clean energy targets. With more solar projects in the pipeline, New South Wales is well on its way towards achieving a sustainable future.

  1. Limondale Solar Farm – https://www.ingersollrand.com/en-au/newsroom/news/2019/01/limondale-solar-farm-announces-major-construction-milestone
  2. Suntop Solar Farm – https://www.escoenergy.com.au/projects/suntop-solar-farm/
  3. Wellington Solar Farm – https://global.escoenergy.com.au/projects/wellington-solar-farm/
  4. Gunnedah Solar Farm – https://frv.com/en/projects/gunnedah-solar-farm/
  5. Griffith Solar Farm – https://www.edsalvato.com/2019/10/15/the-griffith-solar-farm-is-a-nsw-winner/
  6. Finley Solar Farm – https://www.jinkosolar.com/au/projects/Finley-Solar-Farm
  7. Parkes Solar Farm – https://frv.com/en/projects/parkes-solar-farm/
  8. Coleambally Solar Farm – https://neoen.com/projects/coleambally-solar-farm/
  9. Dubbo Solar Hub – https://www.neoen.com.au/projects/dubbo-solar-hub/
  10. Manildra Solar Farm – https://www.solarchoice.net.au/blog/manildra-solar-farm-nsw/

New South Wales has a long history of using renewable energy sources, particularly solar power. The state has some of the highest levels of solar irradiation in Australia, making it an ideal location for solar energy production. The first solar farm in New South Wales was established in 2011 in the town of Nyngan. The farm, which covers an area of around 250 hectares, was developed by AGL Energy and is capable of generating up to 102 MW of power. It was one of the largest solar farms in the world at the time of its construction and was a significant step towards increasing the state’s renewable energy capacity.

Since then, the use of solar power in New South Wales has continued to grow. The state government has implemented a number of policies and initiatives aimed at increasing the use of renewable energy, including solar power. In 2019, the state government announced the development of 14 new solar farms, which are expected to produce a total of 1.4 GW of power. The largest of these farms is the 250 MW Sunraysia Solar Farm, which is located near Balranald.

In addition to large-scale solar farms, many households and businesses in New South Wales have installed solar panels on their roofs. As of 2021, around 470,000 homes and businesses in the state had installed rooftop solar systems. This has helped to reduce their reliance on the grid and has contributed to the state’s growing renewable energy capacity. Overall, New South Wales has made significant strides in the development and use of solar power, and it is expected to continue to play a key role in the state’s energy mix in the future.

 

Read More Solar News:

Beryl Solar Farm reaches financial close.

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

First Solar have reached a financial close at the 87MW Beryl solar farm in New South Wales. The farm will be one of the world’s first to use First Solar’s Series 6 modules (with 420+ watts per module) and will be constructed by Downer EDI. 

Beryl Solar Farm – Construction and Financial Close

Beryl Solar Farm
Beryl Solar Farm (site: firstsolar.com.au)

Beryl is around five km from Gulgong in central west NSW. This is one of NSW’s biggest completed solar farms but there are some upcoming projects which will dwarf it (such as the 200MW Sunraysia solar farm in Balranald or the $380m Gunning Solar Farm – with solar there are always bigger plans in place!).

According to a press release on Reuters, the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract is worth about $150m and construction will commence soon.

TransGrid’s head of business growth Richard Lowe discussed how they will be able to integrate into the project: “The project is located approximately 250 metres south of TransGrid’s Beryl Substation, so we have been able to offer a very competitive and attractive asset connection plan to First Solar,” Lowe said in a statement on the TransGrid website.

“The Beryl Solar Farm will connect directly into TransGrid’s high-voltage electricity transmission network via a 66kV connection to a new bay at Beryl Substation.

“This connection will allow the export of 87 megawatts of power into the National Electricity Market – enough to serve the needs of approximately 25,000 average NSW homes, while the associated carbon emission displacement is equivalent to taking about 45,000 cars off the road.” the statement from TransGrid continued.

TransGrid will oversee the construction and operation of a new substation at the Beryl solar farm so they’re able to then connect that to the existing Beryl substation. This will happen in the second half of the year. 

If you’d like to learn more about the Series 6 module please click here to watch a video on the manufacturing process. 

Read More Solar News:

Tailem Bend solar farm reaches financial close.

Posted on by — 2 Comments ↓

The 127MW Tailem Bend solar project will begin construction later this month. A financial close has been achieved by Singapore energy company Equis Energy and a 22 year purchase power agreement (PPA) has already been signed with Snowy Hydro. There are now plans in the pipeline to create Tailem Bend 2.

Tailem Bend Solar Project

Tailem Bend Solar Farm
Tailem Bend Solar Farm (source: http://equisenergy.com/newsroom/)

The $200m project is 100km south-east of Adelaide and will begin construction in February, according to Equis.

The Australian Financial Review noted that there were initial plans for a 28.8MW diesel generator to support the solar farm, but these were scuppered by the Australian Energy Market Operator who placed “unreasonable technical demands” on the project.  

Equis, who are also planning on building a 1000MW project in Queensland’s part of the Surat Basin (the Wandoan solar farm), said they have a huge amount of projects in the pipeline:

“Australia represents one of the most exciting solar power generation markets globally and Equis expects to build over $1 billion of new projects over the next 24-36 months,” director David Russell said in the press release. 

“As Asia’s largest renewable energy developer, Equis is able to leverage its economies of scale to deliver large scale, low-cost, reliable renewable energy, which Australia needs, as well as providing employment opportunities and supporting economic growth in local communities.” Mr Russell continued. 

According to Deal Street Asia, the project is expected to start generating power and feeding it to the grid in the first quarter of next year. 

The Tailem Bend solar projects will generate around 413,000MWh/year, which is equivalent to 82,600 homes and will save over 200,000 tonnes of CO2 annually compared to the same generation from South Australia’s current non-renewable power plants. 

Equis Energy are also building a  250MW DC solar photovoltaic power plant with energy storage installed in NSW’s Sunraysia region (the Sunraysia solar farm)

Read More Solar News:

$380m Gunning Solar Farm proposed for NSW

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Photon Energy are proposing to build a $380 million, 316MW PV Gunning solar farm – about 75km north of Canberra and 50km west of Goulburn.

Gunning Solar Farm Development

The ABC are reporting that Photo Energy have already lodged their initial plans with the NSW Department of Planning. The plans are set on 590 hectares and will encompass ‘hundreds of thousands’ of solar panels. It’s currently going through permit approvals and grid connection processes – according to RenewEconomy they are in discussions with Transgrid with regards to the construction of a 300MW (AC) substation to connect to their (Transgrid’s) network (which is 330KV).

The current largest operating solar PV setup in the southern hemisphere is the Nyngan Solar Plant in western NSW – it is able to generate 104MW. The Sunraysia Solar Farm, currently in pre-development stage as it was approved last month, is slated to generate 200MW – so the Gunning Solar Farm is a huge proposition and we hope that Photon Energy are able to get it over the line.

Photon Energy - Gunning Solar Farm
Photon Energy Logo (source:photonenergy.com.au)

Photon Energy’s MD, Michael Gartner, was quoted in the ABC discussing Australia’s transition to renewables and the Gunning Solar Farm’s role to play in all this: “The reason we’ve gone to that scale is because we see the need to build very large-scale solar generation systems to supplement the energy requirements of the power grid, as we’ve moved forward to the energy transformation away from coal to renewable energy.”

Photon Energy, founded in Prague in 2008 and publicly listed in Poland since 2013,  are hoping to begin construction of the solar farm in 2019, pending DA approval. They’re currently developing multiple solar projects in NSW, have approximately 50MWp of PV plants commissioned in five different countries, and have their own portfolio of 26MWp in three countries. Having operated in Australia for several years already and with successful developments under their belt, it’ll be exciting to see how the Gunning solar farm development goes.

 

Read More Solar News:

200MW Sunraysia Solar Farm in Balranald Proposed

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Sunraysia Solar Farm Two Pty Ltd (a subsidiary of the Maoneng Group) have proposed to develop a 200MW Solar Farm in Balranald (which situated in southern New South Wales) – if all goes to plan it will be the biggest NSW solar plant – at this point the plant has received approval but is still in the planning phase.

Sunraysia Solar Farm

Sunraysia Solar Farm
Artist’s Rendition – Sunraysia Solar Farm (source:sunraysiasolarfarm.com.au)

The Sunraysia solar farm will be located 17km south of Balranald centre – approximately 140km south-east of Mildura. It’ll consist of around 1,000 hectares of private freehold land and the preliminary layout provides for up to 200MW peak AC (MWp) of solar panels. This is not set in stone, however, the farm is currently in development process and once this is completed Maeoneng are hoping to start construction by the end of 2017. Construction is estimated to run around 12 months.

According to the Maoeng website, their proposal includes the development of a utility scale solar PV farm with a total capacity of 200MWAC. Stage 1 of the proposal would be 109MWAC and stage 2 would be 91MWAC (i.e. already converted into AC power, so factoring in any loss in conversion from direct current). The farm will fulfill Maoneng Group’s commitment to developing and delivering 1GW of solar facilities over Australia during the next six years.

According to the Vice President of Maoeng, Quiao Nan Han, “The development approval will be followed by further consultation with various stakeholders in developing detailed construction management plans,”. The solar farm will produce approximately 530,000MWh of electricity per year and is considering adding battery storage to the project down the track. Maoeneng have already successfully developed the 13MW Mugga Lane solar farm in the ACT.

If you have any questions or would like any more information on the project you can email [email protected] or call them on 02 9199 8599. Alternatively, Maoeng and the Sunraysia Solar Farm have prepared a promotional video about the project which you can view by clicking play below. As always, great to see more investment in renewables!

 

Read More Solar News: