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The biggest solar farms in New South Wales.

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New South Wales is one of the largest states in Australia and has been making significant strides in the field of renewable energy, particularly with solar power. With plenty of sunshine and vast open spaces, the state has become an ideal location for large-scale solar power plants. Here are some of the biggest solar power plants in New South Wales:

  1. Sunraysia Solar Farm: Located in Balranald, Sunraysia is one of the largest solar farms in Australia. With 1.2 million solar panels spread over 2,000 hectares, the farm has a total capacity of 200 MW.
  2. Limondale Solar Farm: Developed by French company Neoen, Limondale Solar Farm has a total capacity of 249 MW. The farm is spread across 900 hectares near Balranald and uses 872,000 solar panels.
  3. Wellington Solar Farm: Located near the town of Wellington, this solar farm has a total capacity of 174 MW. The farm is owned by Lightsource BP, and has more than 500,000 solar panels.
  4. Coleambally Solar Farm: Developed by Neoen, Coleambally Solar Farm has a total capacity of 189 MW. The farm is spread across 550 hectares and uses 567,800 solar panels.
  5. Griffith Solar Farm: Located in Yoogali, Griffith Solar Farm has a total capacity of 36 MW. The farm is spread across 104 hectares and uses 120,000 solar panels.
  6. Parkes Solar Farm: Owned by Canadian Solar, Parkes Solar Farm has a total capacity of 66 MW. The farm is spread across 210 hectares and uses 206,000 solar panels.
  7. Dubbo Solar Hub: Developed by FRV, Dubbo Solar Hub is located near Dubbo and has a total capacity of 57.5 MW. The farm uses 195,000 solar panels spread over 150 hectares.
  8. Gunnedah Solar Farm: Located near the town of Gunnedah, this solar farm has a total capacity of 45 MW. The farm uses 150,000 solar panels spread over 90 hectares.
  9. White Rock Solar Farm: Developed by Goldwind Australia, White Rock Solar Farm has a total capacity of 20 MW. The farm is spread across 43 hectares and uses 77,000 solar panels.
  10. Beryl Solar Farm: Owned by New Energy Solar, Beryl Solar Farm has a total capacity of 110 MW. The farm is located near Gulgong and uses 319,000 solar panels.

These solar power plants have been crucial in reducing Australia’s carbon emissions, and have made significant contributions towards the country’s clean energy targets. With more solar projects in the pipeline, New South Wales is well on its way towards achieving a sustainable future.

  1. Limondale Solar Farm – https://www.ingersollrand.com/en-au/newsroom/news/2019/01/limondale-solar-farm-announces-major-construction-milestone
  2. Suntop Solar Farm – https://www.escoenergy.com.au/projects/suntop-solar-farm/
  3. Wellington Solar Farm – https://global.escoenergy.com.au/projects/wellington-solar-farm/
  4. Gunnedah Solar Farm – https://frv.com/en/projects/gunnedah-solar-farm/
  5. Griffith Solar Farm – https://www.edsalvato.com/2019/10/15/the-griffith-solar-farm-is-a-nsw-winner/
  6. Finley Solar Farm – https://www.jinkosolar.com/au/projects/Finley-Solar-Farm
  7. Parkes Solar Farm – https://frv.com/en/projects/parkes-solar-farm/
  8. Coleambally Solar Farm – https://neoen.com/projects/coleambally-solar-farm/
  9. Dubbo Solar Hub – https://www.neoen.com.au/projects/dubbo-solar-hub/
  10. Manildra Solar Farm – https://www.solarchoice.net.au/blog/manildra-solar-farm-nsw/

New South Wales has a long history of using renewable energy sources, particularly solar power. The state has some of the highest levels of solar irradiation in Australia, making it an ideal location for solar energy production. The first solar farm in New South Wales was established in 2011 in the town of Nyngan. The farm, which covers an area of around 250 hectares, was developed by AGL Energy and is capable of generating up to 102 MW of power. It was one of the largest solar farms in the world at the time of its construction and was a significant step towards increasing the state’s renewable energy capacity.

Since then, the use of solar power in New South Wales has continued to grow. The state government has implemented a number of policies and initiatives aimed at increasing the use of renewable energy, including solar power. In 2019, the state government announced the development of 14 new solar farms, which are expected to produce a total of 1.4 GW of power. The largest of these farms is the 250 MW Sunraysia Solar Farm, which is located near Balranald.

In addition to large-scale solar farms, many households and businesses in New South Wales have installed solar panels on their roofs. As of 2021, around 470,000 homes and businesses in the state had installed rooftop solar systems. This has helped to reduce their reliance on the grid and has contributed to the state’s growing renewable energy capacity. Overall, New South Wales has made significant strides in the development and use of solar power, and it is expected to continue to play a key role in the state’s energy mix in the future.

 

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Finley Solar Farm | Canadian Solar KuMax Modules

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Canadian Solar have announced that the Finley Solar Farm will be using their KuMax modules and EPC services for the $170m project in New South Wales.

Finley Solar Farm | Canadian Solar KuMax Modules

Finley Solar Farm
Finley Solar Farm (source: FinleySolarFarm.com.au)

The Finley Solar Farm will use almost half a million Canadian Solar CS3U-P Kumax Panels with single axis tracking, according to SolarQuotes. The modules are ‘split cell/half cut’ with 144 cells per module. Canadian Solar don’t have a huge presence in Australia yet, and it looks like they are going to focus on commercial solar installations for the time being. The farm will cost around $170m and will be built 6km west of Finley (which is located around 140km west of Albury, which is a city in southern New South Wales with a population of around 51,000).  According to their website, the 175MW farm will be developed by ESCO Pacific, one of Australia’s leading renewable energy developers, with construction being managed by Signal Energy Australia.

Canadian Solar Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Shawn Qu discussed their input in the project:

“We are delighted to be selected by ESCO Pacific to provide EPC (Engineering, procurement and construction) services together with Signal Energy and to supply our 1500V crystalline module to this large-scale solar power plant,” said Dr. Qu in a statement on the official Canadian Solar website. 

The farm has started construction (which started in December 2018) and the Finley Solar Farm is expected to be completed in Q3 this year, so not long at all! The energy has already mostly been spoken for, with a 7 year PPA signed last July by ESCO Pacific and Bluescope for the Finley Solar Farm to sell 66% of its output to Bluescope – with the PPA (Power Purchasing Agreement) the biggest corporate PPA of its kind in Australia at the time. 

John Nowlan, the head of Australian steel at BlueScope, said the contract will be a step in the right direction while they continue to support the National Energy Guarantee and rely less and less on non-renewable energy:

“(The contract) will help keep downward pressure on our energy costs, and will support the gradual transition to renewable energy,” Mr Nowlan told the Australian Financial Review.

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Buy black solar panels in Australia – cost, review & more.

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Today we’ll take a look at black solar panels. How do they perform compared to conventional panels? What are the best brands? And where can you buy them in Australia if you’re so inclined?

Where to buy black solar panels in Australia

Canadian Solar’s robust All-Black panels (CS6K-MS modules – click for datasheet) with 60 solar cells are specifically targeted for consumers in the residential market. 

Sunpower’s residential solar panel X-Series are, according to their website, offered in SunPower® Signature™ Black, “designed to blend harmoniously into your roof.” Built using all-black solar cells and anti-reflective glass to reduce glare, the premium aesthetics can accommodate a variety of architectural styles. Note that they didn’t mention performance at all – but if ‘premium aesthetics’ are important to you then these could be worth checking out (the black panels have 10W less output).

LG Solar’s NeON 2 solar panel comes in conventional colouring and also black. According to the datasheets the black panel is 4.4% larger in order to reach the 315/320 watt output of its less flamboyant solar sibling.

Black solar panels are more expensive and perform slightly worse than blue solar panels. With that said, if looks are important to you some quality manufacturers have some options – you certainly can’t go wrong with LG or Sunpower – and if you have a surfeit of space on your roof the extra 4.4% isn’t going to be a big deal.

Have you got any experience with black solar panels or would like to ask us any questions on them? Please sound off in the comments and we’d be happy to help.

Sunpower X21 Series Black Solar Panels in Australia
Sunpower X21 Series Black Solar Panels in Australia (source: sunpower.com)

Are black solar panels less efficient?

Solar cells can have polycrystalline cells, which have multiple crystals and appear blue, or monocrystalline cells, which are cut from one large crystal and appear much darker than the poly cells. The monocrystalline cells are more expensive and are the ones black solar panels are made out of. These solar panels are made when you use a black backing sheet instead of the conventional white and place the darker monocrystalline cells on it – the panel then appears black (or close enough).

This is, however, only to do with aesthetics – you won’t get any better performance from a black solar panel. In fact, ironically enough solar panel performance degrades the hotter the module gets, and the black backing sheet absorbs more heat – so you’d want to make sure black is super important to you! 

 

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