More Small Utility Scale Solar Farm Success For MPower

In the last week, Sydney-headquartered MPower has connected two 5MW solar farms in South Australia to the grid.

Last Tuesday the company announced it had connected a 5MWac solar project at South Hummocks in South Australia’s Mid North region. Commissioning of the facility began last month and MPower expects it will be able to export power at full capacity in the coming weeks.

Then yesterday, MPower said it had connected another 5MWac solar project at Kadina on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula, making it the fifth 5MW solar project MPower has grid-connected. It is also expected to be ready to start exporting at full capacity in the coming weeks.

Both these projects are the result of a deal inked with Astronergy Australia last year, worth a combined value of approximately $9 million.

MPower’s other completed 5MW solar energy projects:

• Mannum Solar Farm Project, SA – owned by a Canadian Solar subsidiary
• Pirie Solar Farm, SA – owned by Renew Power Group
• Solar For Samoa

More 5MW Solar Farm Projects On The Way

In February last year, MPower shed its solar and battery products business to focus on high-reliability (and higher margin) renewable and conventional power projects.

“MPower is actively building a pipeline of 5MW solar project sites and currently has exclusivity over six sites,” said MPower CEO Nathan Wise. “We are looking to create an initial portfolio of up to 20 renewable energy assets with an aggregate capacity of 100MWac and an estimated value of more than $150 million once fully constructed.”

Among those six sites are three in Victoria that were announced earlier this month – and MPower says it expects to announce exclusivity on more sites “very soon”.

So, why the 5MW focus? The company is pursuing sites capable of hosting up to this capacity due to advantages including the comparative ease of grid connection compared to larger solar farms. Small solar farms face far less red tape and potential delays – both of which can add substantially to the cost of a project.

On a related note, Green Gold Energy and Risen Energy Australia inked an agreement earlier this month to jointly develop and construct 16 solar power projects of approximately 4.95MWac each in Australia within the next two years. Risen Energy Australia says once complete, the systems will collectively generate at least 180 GWh of clean electricity annually

The project sites are primarily located in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. In South Australia, an electricity generation licence for a generator less than 5MW is $570 annually. 5MW and up to 30MW, it’s $6,650. Over the 25 – 30 year working life of a solar farm (or even longer in some cases) these fees really add up; so coming in just under 5MW can save a significant amount of cash.

It’s not clear if MPower’s SA projects were spot- on 5MW or just a tad under to take advantage of the lower licence fees and fewer regulatory hurdles.