The Clare Solar Farm is a solar farm located 35 kilometres south-west of Ayr at Clare in North Queensland, Australia. The 125 megawatt DC power station is owned by Lighthouse Solar. [1] Construction commenced in 2016 [2] and was complete by May 2018. It features 393,300 single-axis tracking panels spread over 300 hectares. [3] The solar panels were supplied by Trina Solar. [4]
Electricity was first exported to the grid in 2018. [1]
The power station has a power purchase agreement with Origin Energy. [1] Operations and maintenance contracts were awarded to Downer EDI. [4]
Solar power is a fast-growing industry in Australia. As of June 2023, Australia's over 3.52 million solar PV installations had a combined capacity of 32,095 MW photovoltaic (PV) solar power, of which at least 4,389 MW were installed in the preceding 12 months. In 2019, 59 solar PV projects with a combined capacity of 2,881 MW were either under construction, constructed or due to start construction having reached financial closure. Solar accounted for 12.4% of Australia's total electrical energy production in 2021.
Project EnergyConnect is a new electricity transmission line under construction which will connect the South Australia and New South Wales districts of the National Electricity Market in Australia. Riverlink was a previous working title for the project, drawn from a proposal first raised in 1999. The Australian Energy Market Operator used RiverLink in its proposal for this interconnector, but the transmission companies in South Australia (ElectraNet) and New South Wales (TransGrid) now call it EnergyConnect.
Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic effect. Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and solar tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight to a hot spot, often to drive a steam turbine.
The energy sector in Hawaii has rapidly adopted solar power due to the high costs of electricity, and good solar resources, and has one of the highest per capita rates of solar power in the United States. Hawaii's imported energy costs, mostly for imported petroleum and coal, are three to four times higher than the mainland, so Hawaii has motivation to become one of the highest users of solar energy. Hawaii was the first state in the United States to reach grid parity for photovoltaics. Its tropical location provides abundant ambient energy.
The Australian electricity sector has been historically dominated by coal-fired power stations, but renewables are forming a rapidly growing fraction of supply.
Kennedy Energy Park is a wind, solar and storage hybrid power station approximately 20 km south east of Hughenden and 290 km southwest of Townsville in Queensland.
The Lower Wonga Solar Farm is a proposed photovoltaic power station, located in the rural locality of Lower Wonga, Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. If the station is completed to its final configuration of 3 million solar panels capable of powering about 315,000 homes, it would become Australia's largest solar power station.
Aurora Solar Thermal Power Project was a planned solar power tower solar thermal power plant to be located north of Port Augusta in South Australia. It was planned to generate 150 MW of electricity after it was completed in 2020. Storage capacity would have been up to 8 hours at full power. The facility was expected to produce 495 GWh of electricity annually. It was to be 30 kilometres (19 mi) north of Port Augusta on Carriewerloo Station.
The Bungala Solar Power Farm is a solar power farm in Emeroo and Wami Kata near Port Augusta in South Australia. The first stage was connected to the grid in May 2018, and the second stage was connected to the grid in November 2018. The project gradually reached full power in 2020.
Hornsdale Power Reserve is a 150 MW grid-connected energy storage system owned by Neoen co-located with the Hornsdale Wind Farm in the Mid North region of South Australia, also owned by Neoen.
The Tailem Bend Solar Power Farm is a solar power farm near Tailem Bend in South Australia. It has 108MW of generation capacity but is limited to supplying 95MW to the national grid. An additional 85MW is proposed in stage 2. It is developed and owned by Singapore-based Vena Energy, a new name for the former Equis Energy following acquisition by Global Infrastructure Partners in January 2018. The output will be sold to Snowy Hydro for retail sale under its Lumo Energy brand. Stage 2 is also expected to provide battery storage.
The Sun Metals Solar Farm is a photovoltaic solar power station near Townsville in the Australian state of Queensland. It supplies some of the electricity consumed by the nearby Sun Metals zinc refinery as well as exporting to the National Electricity Market. When the Sun Metals Solar Farm started exporting electricity to the grid in May 2018, it took over from Clare Solar Farm as the largest capacity solar farm in Queensland.
Darling Downs Solar Farm is a 110MW photovoltaic solar power station in Queensland, Australia developed by APA Group 45 km west of Dalby in the Darling Downs region next to the Darling Downs Power Station. All of the power it produces will be sold to Origin Energy until 2030. It connects to the national electricity grid through Powerlink's Braemar substation. It has approximately 430,000 solar panels on an area of approximately 250 hectares.
Kiamal Solar Farm is a photovoltaic power station under construction north of Ouyen in western Victoria, Australia. Stage 1 is expected to be completed by the end of 2019. It is owned by Total Eren, a renewable energy subsidiary of TotalEnergies When completed, stage 1 at 256MW will be Victoria's largest solar farm. Construction began in October 2018. It has energy offtake agreements with Mars Australia, Flow Power and Alinta Energy.
Kidston Solar Project is a photovoltaic solar power station built on top of the former Kidston Gold Mine utilising the tailings storage facility in northern Queensland, Australia. The project consists of two solar farms, KS1 and KS2. The Kidston Solar Project is the first of four projects that comprise the Kidston Clean Energy Hub also occupying this area. A 250 megawatt (MW) hydro-pumped storage power generation project and a 150 MW wind farm make up the third and forth components. The site is located close to an existing substation and transmission line.
Shell Energy Australia provides gas, electricity, environmental products and energy productivity services to commercial and industrial customers.
The Hamilton Solar Farm is a solar farm at Collinsville in North Queensland, Australia. The power station can generate 69 megawatts of power. It is owned and operated by Gentari. The site covers 330 hectares. It is co-located with the Whitsunday Solar Farm and the Daydream Solar Farm.
The Whitsunday Solar Farm is a solar farm located at Collinsville in North Queensland, Australia. It has a generating capacity of 57.5 megawatts. Operations commenced in 2018. The power station is jointly owned by Edify Energy and Wirsol. It is co-located at the same site as the Hamilton Solar Farm and the Daydream Solar Farm.
19°50′28″S147°12′20″E / 19.84111°S 147.20556°E