Whitsunday Solar Farm
- $5.35m Funded by ARENA
- $124.37m Total project cost
Summary
The Whitsunday Solar Farm Project will develop a 57.5MW (AC) solar photovoltaic (PV) farm.
How the project works
The Whitsunday Solar Farm Project project by Edify 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.
Area of innovation
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.
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.
Report: Lessons Learnt – Whitsunday Solar Farm
This report has been prepared by Edify Energy for and on behalf for Whitsunday Solar Farm Pty Ltd pursuant to WSF’s obligations under a Funding Agreement with ARENA dated 2 March 2017.
Media Release: Historic Day for Australian Solar as 12 New Plants Get Support
Twelve new large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) plants are set to be constructed across Australia, tripling the amount of energy produced from big solar.
Benefit
By supporting Whitsunday 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 will generate enough energy to power some 31,000 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.
