The Emu Downs solar farm in Western Australia has been completed - the first of 12 projects funded under the Australian Renewable Energy Agency's $92 million large-scale solar energy projects round.
APA Group's solar farm will add 20 megawatt (MW) of power generation capacity to the company's adjacent 80 megawatt wind farm, which was built in 2006 at a site where strong winds predominately blow in the morning and the afternoon. The solar power produced with 75,000 solar panels will now compensate for the dips in wind power generation that often occur in the middle of the day.
According to ARENA chief executive officer Ivor Frischknecht, the completion of the $50 million Emu Downs Solar Farm marks a significant milestone for renewables in Australia. Large-scale solar is still in its infancy in Australia, but with further projects reaching completion this year, the technology is now closing in on other commercially competitive forms of power generation, including wind.
Once built, the dozen ARENA funded solar farms will have a total capacity of 492.5MW and leverage a total investment of $1.1 billion.