Accordingto the Energy Supply Association of Australia, Australia boasts the highestrate of household solar panel installation in the world. But despite much ofthe continent being seemingly perfect for large scale solar, it has been slow in comingto the sun-drenched country. That could be set to change with the officialopening of two plants that AGL Energy managing director and CEO Andy Vesey says"signals the birth of large-scale solar in Australia".
The Nyngan and Broken Hill solar plants were originally announced in 2013 and are the largest operational solar power plants in Australia. Developed by AGL and located in western New South Wales, the Broken Hill plant has a power output of 53 MW, while the Nyngan plant outputs 102 MW, making it the largest solar plant in the Southern Hemisphere. Together they will produce around 360,000 MWh of renewable energy every year, which is enough to power around 50,000 homes.
AGL says that building the plants has delivered a boost to each of the local economies of around AUD14 to 15 million (US$9.8 to 10.5 million) already. In addition, the company anticipates that a further AUD137 million (US$96 million) will flow into the local economy around the Nyngan plant and AUD85.5 million (US$60 million) into the Broken Hill region over their 30-year lifespans.
The Nyngan and Broken Hill plants became operational in July and December last year, respectively, and were officially opened at a ceremony on January 20.
The video below provides an introduction to the 53 MW Broken Hill plant.
Source: AGL Energy
Minor niggle, there is somewhat of a disconnect between
"Australia boasts the highest rate of household solar panel installation in the world."
and
"Together they will produce around 360,000 MWh of renewable energy every year, which is enough to power around 50,000 homes"
Whether grid connected or not many of those homes are now easily capable of powering themselves (or at least partially so) so it might be worth thinking up another way of describing how much power is being generated ... and what else it might be used for.
Why didn't the company get a bank loan or do a stock capital raising, like every other company has to do when they need to buy more plant/equipment?
Why are we given pointlessly useless numbers - 102MW - this plant is open now, how about telling us how many MW/h are coming out on average?
Why was this not put on everyone's roof instead? What's happening to this power when it's not used during the daytime?
What happens in 30 years - do we have to blow another half-billion to replace them?
Commercial operations should stand on their own two feet, either they are viable or they are not
What guarantee do these panels come with ? who foots the bill when they have to be replaced, who maintains them, who keeps them clean
Fixed Solar panels even in Australia have full efficiency for only about 6 hours a day.
A nuclear plant would still be working in 100 years, not these
Australians, generally, are great individual innovators but our governments are too risk averse (they are too concentrated on not doing anything that is perceived as wrong before the next election).
We need this sort of investment and innovation even though we know that these panels will be obsolete before they even really get going. The lessons learned from this project will hopefully lead to better and bigger solar farms (or maybe to smaller and more diverse solar farms) in the future. But lets do something rather than just sitting around discussing how difficult and expensive it is.
About flaming time!
As for the whingers here, they probably had to get government backing because they couldn't attract investors due them all having their heads buried in the sand like you lot!
How Germany, you know - in grey and cloudy northern Europe - can be 100 times further down this road than Australia with it virtual perpetual daytime sunlight is a complete mystery. Of course the answer is political corruption. Why you all keep on voting for one crook after another is beyond me. It's just like the Italians and Berlusconi... Oh... hang on, though...! MW