Australia is set to get more solar power into the grid with two new large scale PV farms. AGL Energy Limited recently announced that two large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) projects have managed to secure funding thanks to agreements with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and the New South Wales (NSW) Government. The projects are expected to produce approximately 360,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year, which is enough to meet the needs of over 50,000 average homes in the Australian region of New South Wales.
The projects include a 102MW solar power plant at Nyngan and a 53MW solar plant at Broken Hill. The total project cost is approximately $450 million. To support AGL’s delivery of the projects, ARENA will provide $166.7 million and the NSW Government will provide $64.9 million.
“Solar PV in Australia has come a long way from being a small-scale industry in a relatively short time frame. The Nyngan and Broken Hill solar plants will be the nation’s largest solar projects with the Nyngan plant also being the largest in the Southern Hemisphere,” said AGL Managing Director, Michael Fraser.
AGL will deliver these projects in partnership with ARENA and the NSW Government, together with the local councils and communities of Broken Hill and Nyngan, and project partner First Solar.
Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.
