Big Solar In Victoria – Statistics

With so much large scale solar activity going on in Australia over the last few years, it can be hard to keep track of it all. The Victorian Government has recently made it easier to see projects in that state.

The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning acknowledges it hasn’t always tracked development of solar farms in Victoria, but it looks to have done a pretty good job of cobbling together a list of facilities and projects. Mainly based on information provided by local councils and other sources, DELWP warns the list should not be assumed to be 100% correct.

In summary, here’s what’s happening in the state in terms of collective MW capacity and numbers in various categories:

• Operating solar farms: 526 MW (9 facilities)
• Application approved but not operational: 4356.7MW (53 projects)
• Planning permit application lodged and process underway: 929 MW (12 projects)
• Under construction: 725 MW (9 projects)
• Total: 6536.7 MW

It’s a lot of PV, but it should be noted that not all of the projects with approved applications may result in a solar farm being constructed.

The largest operating solar farm is Numurkah, at 128 MW. Numurkah is supplying renewable energy to offset electricity used by Melbourne’s tram network.

The largest PV facility currently under construction is the huge Kiamal Solar Farm at 350 MW (AC). Some of the power it generates has been earmarked for 13 Victorian water corporations that banded together to buy electricity under a power purchase agreement. Stage 1 of Kiamal Solar Farm was expected to be completed by Q1 2020, but it has been delayed. Last week owners of the project announced they had “stepped in” to complete the commissioning.

Large Commercial Solar

As for how much large commercial solar is in place (above 100kW but below 5MW) in Victoria; the Australian Photovoltaic Institute puts the 100kW+ capacity figure at 625MW, but that includes utility-scale projects (5MW+) and was only current as at the end of September last year. APVI puts the number of operational systems in this category at 207, including utility scale, as at September 2019.

Victoria Small-Scale Solar Power Statistics

Tracking installations of small scale solar power in Victoria; i.e. those systems under 100 kilowatts capacity, has always been pretty easy via the Clean Energy Regulator. It notes more than 454,643 solar panel systems had been installed in the state as at the end of March this year. The reason the real number is “more than” is because the Regulator gets its figures from Small-scale Technology Certificate (STC) creations – the bits of virtual paper that form the basis of Australia’s solar rebate (not to be confused with Victoria’s solar rebate). STCs may not be created for some time after an installation is completed – there’s a 12 month window in which they can be.

The amount of small-scale capacity in Victoria works out to around 2,083 megawatts – close to four times the amount of currently operating large scale solar capacity in the state; and around 315 watts per capita.