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Large-scale solar farms across Australia generated a record 16.2 TWh of clean energy in 2024, delivering a near 7% increase on the previous year and taking the contribution from renewables to a new record high. New data from global energy consultancy Rystad Energy shows that all Australian large-scale solar power plants generated 16.2 TWh of clean energy in 2024, up from 15 TWh in 2023 with Queensland home to four of the top five best-performing utility PV assets for the year. Spanish company X-Elio’s 200 MW Blue Grass Solar Farm was ranked Australia’s top-performing big PV generation asset for calendar year 2024 with Rystad Senior Analyst David Dixon noting the central Queensland facility had delivered an average AC capacity factor (CF) of 28.2% for the year. The Blue Grass power plant was followed by Greek energy company Metka’s 110 MW Moura Solar Farm, with an AC CF of 28.0%, while French renewables developer Neoen’s 36 MW Griffith Solar Farm in regional New South Wales (NSW) rounded out the top three with a 27.8% AC CF. Adani’s 65 MW Rugby Run Solar Farm in Queensland and the 204 MW Edenvale Solar Park, co-owned by Japanese energy majors Eneos and Sojitz, completed the top five. At the state level, renewable generation was highest in NSW with 7.1 TWh of clean energy generated by solar farms, up from 6.4 TWh in 2023. In Queensland, large-scale PV assets delivered 6.1 TWh of energy in the 12 months to December, up from 5.8 TWh the previous year. Dixon said a key driver for the increase in utility scale PV generation was the successful completion of commissioning of existing assets with about 900 MW commencing operations in 2024. Rystad modelling shows about 3.2 GW of assets are currently under construction in Australia and yet to be energised. Neoen was the top PV generator in total volume by equity ownership for 2024 with 1.4 TWh. Chinese developer BJEI followed with 1.2 TWh and Atmos Renewables with 1.0 TWh. While Australia’s large-scale solar plants generated record totals, so too did the nation’s wind assets. Dixon said large-scale wind farms generated a total of 31.9 TWh in 2024, a 1.0 TWh increase on the previous 12 months. The top-performing wind assets for 2024 were mostly located in Western Australia (WA), with the Yandin wind farm in WA leading the charts (43.6 AC CF), followed by the Kennedy energy park in Queensland ((42.4% AC CF) and the Warradarge wind farm (42.3% AC CF) in WA. The top utility wind generator by total volume by equity ownership for calendar year 2024 was local developer Tilt Renewables with 4.1 TWh. They were followed by fellow local developer Squadron Energy (2.5 TWh) and Spanish utility Iberdrola (2.3 TWh). |
