[LINK] Australia's largest solar power plant, and first offshore wind farm

[Stephen Loosley]

http://www.theage.com.au/business/energy/australia-s-largest-solar-plant-to-build-in-2018-20171205-p4yxem.html


Australia’s largest solar and battery power plant is slated to be built in NSW early next year.

Maoneng Australia and Decmil had signed a memorandum of understanding to construct a 250-megawatt direct-current solar photovoltaic power plant and planned to start building as soon as April or May 2018.

The Sunraysia solar farm will cover approximately 1000 hectares of land.

Once built, Sunraysia will be more than double the size of the current largest solar plant, a 102-megawatt generation facility at Nyngan in NSW. It will take the mantle of the largest operating solar project in the southern hemisphere from Nygnan once operational.

The construction contract is valued at about $275 million.

The solar farm will be about 17 kilometres from Balranald in NSW and 140 kilometres south-east of Mildura in Victoria. It will generate at least 530,000-megawatt hours of electricity annually, powering homes in both states.

The project could also be one of the first solar farms in NSW to utilise batteries for storage of excess power.

“This will provide greater energy reliability and allow the solar farm to produce electricity during periods of peak demand rather than only during sunlight hours,” Decmil said in a statement.


http://www.theage.com.au/business/energy/australia-s-first-offshore-wind-farm-international-funding-20171205-p4yxfb.html


Australia's first offshore wind farm, an $8 billion 2000 megawatt project, has secured financial backing from a major international green energy investment fund.

The offshore wind farm, dubbed the Star of the South, will be built 10 to 25 kilometres off the coast of Victoria’s Gippsland region, in the Bass Strait, and could provide one and a half times the energy of the now-closed Victorian Hazelwood coal-fired power station.

Offshore Energy said Star of the South would comprise up to 250 turbines over an area of 574 square kilometres, and generate 8000-gigawatt hours of energy annually, enough to power 1.2 million homes, and account for nearly 20 per cent of Victoria’s energy demand.

Mr Evans said offshore wind provides constant generation compared to onshore wind, providing increased electricity security.

“When placed in the right wind conditions like those off the coast of Gippsland, offshore wind delivers a high, consistent flow of electricity,” he said.

It aims to begin energy generation as early as 2024.

Star of the South is currently Australia’s only offshore wind project.

“The industry doesn’t really exist at the moment,” Mr Evans told Fairfax Media.

He said there is currently a greater focus on solar and onshore wind projects in Australia, as they are currently cheaper than offshore wind, however, “the cost of offshore will come down, and has already seen falling costs in Europe.”


Cheers,
Stephen