The final solar panel has been installed at Australia and the Southern Hemisphere’s largest solar photovoltaic plant in Nyngan, NSW, paving the way for more utility-scale solar plants to be built in Australia.
A total of 1.36 million solar panels have been successfully installed at the Nyngan site, which is now supplying 50MW of renewable energy to the national electricity market. When fully operational, the plant will produce 102MW peak output. The plant surpasses ACT’s 20MW Royalla solar farm as Australia’s largest.
The plant, once fully operations, will also surpass South Africa’s 96MW Jasper PV Project as the Southern Hemisphere’s largest. The project will slot into 27th position in the worldwide list of largest PV plants, according to Wikipedia.
Owner AGL Energy and developer US-based First Solar today joined NSW Minister for Industry, Resources and Energy Anthony Roberts and NSW Environment Minister Mark Speakman on site to celebrate the milestone.
CLICK HERE to watch flyover videos of new plant
“Low-emission technology like our Nyngan Solar Plant is an important part of AGL’s journey towards a decarbonised electricity generation sector,” AGL managing director and CEO Andy Vesey said.
“We are pleased to be adding to AGL’s and Australia’s portfolio of renewable energy generation and assets, he added, with the company saying it had invested more than $3 billion in renewable energy projects in the last decade.
The plant is part of a $440 million solar plant spend by AGL on two plants, which is supported by $166.7 million from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and $64.9 million from the NSW Government, and which will see Nyngan complemented by a 53MW solar plant in Broken Hill, also developed by First Solar, bringing the combined capacity to 155MW.
The remaining 50% of generation from the last two sections of modules will be progressively brought online in the next few months, and once complete will be able to power more than 33,000 homes annually. The Broken Hill plant expected to be fully operational by the end of 2015.
Mr Vesey said the project had been a boon to western NSW: “On average our project has seen a monthly spend of between $350,000 to $500,000 in local communities on indirect costs, including accommodation, food, petrol and other suppliers to support the project’s construction,” he said.
AGL also said the construction of the plant had created more than 250 onsite jobs as well as off-site jobs to supply material as well as roles responsible for the design, management and support of the project.
First Solar Asia-Pacific chief Jack Curtis said local procurement accounted for over 55% of the total procurement spend on the Nyngan Solar Plant.
Source: ARENA
“First Solar has pursued every opportunity to support local and regional businesses throughout the construction of the Nyngan Solar Plant,” Mr Curtis said. “In addition to boosting the local economy through job creation, First Solar supported Australian automotive parts manufactures who were exploring new business opportunities. They produced vital parts, like mounting structures, transformers and switchgear to the plant.”
ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said the project brought Australia a step closer to cost competitive large-scale solar PV.
“ARENA has been working with AGL and First Solar during the planning and construction stages to ensure the energy industry can benefit from their experiences,” he said. “To date we have published 19 reports covering a range of topics from planning, approvals and logistics to procurement, construction and grid connection.
“Pooling and sharing this knowledge will make it easier and cheaper to develop large scale solar plants in Australia by helping reduce financial, regulatory and technical barriers.”
Mr Frischknecht said Broken Hill was “well underway” with ground posts installed, pallets of solar panels arriving and newly constructed network components ready to supply renewable energy into the grid, adding it would “benefit from the learnings gained in developing and constructing Nyngan.”
Mr Curtis reiterated the ARENA CEO’s views that the project would drive other ‘big solar’ developments Down Under.
“These 1.36 million modules will have a higher energy yield than traditional crystalline silicon modules, particularly in hot climates, will produce no carbon emissions and will require no water during operation.
“Utility scale solar PV is already cost competitive with conventional generation in many parts of the world and will increasingly deliver economic stimulus to rural Australia without depleting natural resources,” he said.
Panel perfect: Australia"s largest solar plant complete
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