White Rock Solar Farm, co-located with White Rock Wind Farm
- $5.4m Funded by ARENA
- $41m Total project cost
Summary
The White Rock Solar project will develop a 20MW solar photovoltaic (PV) farm.
How the project works
The White Rock Solar Farm project is one of 12 large-scale solar PV projects supported by ARENA to increase the nation’s experience in planning and building large scale solar PV and making it more competitive by increasing confidence and building supply chains. Once complete, the 12 projects are expected to triple the amount of electricity produced from big solar in Australia and unlock almost $1 billion of commercial investment in the technology.
At the time of funding, the large-scale solar PV industry in Australia was in its infancy. The 12 new large- scale projects will change this by adding almost 500MW of new generation, powering 150,000 average Australian homes.
This project consists of:
Learn more
Reports: The Generator Operations Series
In 2016, when the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) launched the $100 million Large-scale Solar (LSS) funding round, renewable energy (particularly solar) constituted a very small fraction of the energy mix.
Media Release: Whiterock Solar Farm Secures $6 million ARENA Funding
Whiterock Solar Farm is one of 12 new large-scale solar PV plants set to be constructed across Australia, after securing $6 million in funding from ARENA.
Benefit
By supporting White Rock Solar Farm and other large-scale solar projects, ARENA is making the benefits of solar available to more Australian energy consumers. It is anticipated that the Project which features over 72,000 PV solar modules will be able to generate enough energy to power some 5,000 average Australian homes.
The cost trajectory of large-scale solar PV has seen the technology become competitive without additional support. The competitive round was critical in supporting this outcome by helping to close the cost gap that existed between large-scale solar PV and other commercially competitive forms of power generation, including wind energy.
ARENA will be sharing knowledge from the Large Scale Solar competitive round projects on a range of topics, from construction techniques, solar forecasting and capital costs, to Operations and Maintenance (O&M) practices and grid impacts.
Read more
ARENAWIRE Blogs
Deputy PM breaks ground on the (solar) farm
For acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce this was a different sort of farm, but the Nationals leader was no less excited to be visiting.
