12 new solar plants supported

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced that 12 new large-scale solar PV plants will be constructed around Australia, following the completion of its large-scale solar funding round.

A total of $92 million will be spread across the 12 projects, each of which will receive funding of around 10% of the project value. They are set to produce around 480 MW of large-scale solar in Australia and, in the process, unlock almost $1 billion of commercial investment and boost regional Australian economies.

“Six plants in Queensland, five plants in NSW and one plant in Western Australia are slated for funding, in a major milestone that’s expected to triple Australia’s large-scale solar capacity from 240 MW to 720 MW,” said ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht.

“They will provide enough energy to power 150,000 average Australian homes and deliver one-tenth of the new capacity required to meet Australia’s 2020 renewable energy target.

“Regional economies will benefit massively from the growing big solar industry, with 2300 direct jobs and thousands more indirect jobs expected to be created by this round.”

While large-scale solar grant applicants had typically sought grants for up to 50% of their project costs some four years ago, ARENA grant requirements in this funding round have fallen to around 10% of the project value. According to the CEO of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), Oliver Yates, the results provide a clear demonstration of the increasing cost-competitiveness of large-scale solar.

“We are seeing positive signs of large-scale solar gaining cost parity and even trending below the costs of other forms of new-build energy generation, with some proposals having a projected levelised cost of energy below $100 per megawatt hour,” Yates said.

“With trend figures from Bloomberg New Energy Finance suggesting the cost of new-build black coal generation is sitting at around $130 per MWh, we can have confidence that solar generation costs will continue to fall, making large-scale solar an increasingly important contributor to Australia’s future energy mix.”

Frischknecht said it is now up to successful companies to deliver their projects in line with ARENA’s requirements, which could see all plants built by the end of next year. Yates said the CEFC is currently working on the provision of debt finance to the successful recipients, as well as project proponents who had either not achieved an ARENA grant or not applied for one.