Australia’s Biggest Solar PV Project, Greenough River Solar Farm, Is Officially Connected!
Dear Friends & Visitors/Viewers/Readers,
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I am tickled to find out about Australia’s biggest solar farm being officially connected during the week of our visit in Australia! This 10 megawatt Greenough River Solar Farm, 50 km southeast of Geraldton, in Western Australia is a joint project of First Solar, Inc., GE Energy Financial Services and Western Australian state-owned power utility Verve Energy, and is expected to generate enough solar energy to power 3,000 homes and eliminating 20,000 tons of greenhouse gases annually. The plant consists of 150,000 First Solar’s advanced thin film PV modules solar PV panels spread over 198 acres (or over 80 hectares).
Verve Energy Chief Executive Officer Jason Waters said in a release, “As the largest photovoltaic solar plant in operation in Australia, the Greenough River Solar Farm demonstrates that renewable technologies can contribute to meeting Australia’s future energy needs on a sustainable, cost-competitive basis…This is a positive first step in validating the bright future that large-scale solar represents in Australia.” He also commented that Verve Energy and GE are evaluating the possibility of a plant expansion up to 40 megawatts to satisfy growing demand for renewable energy.
With the highest average solar radiation per square meter of any continent in the world (according to Australian government), Australia aims to generate at least 20% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. About 858,000 homes in Australia currently have solar PV panels, accounting for a total installed capacity of almost 2 gagawatts (based on data from Australian Clean Energy Regulator), translating into approximately 10% of the rooftop with solar installations. Growth in the amount of installed PV capacity in Australia has been dramatic with a 10-fold increase between 2009 and 2011. Feed-In-Tariffs and mandatory renewable energy targets designed to assist renewable energy commercialisation in Australia have largely been responsible for the rapid increase. Ray Willis, the chief adviser to the Sustainable Energy Association (an industry lobby group) expects the one millionth home to be with rooftop solar installation by end of June of 2013, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
~have a bright and sunny day~
gathered, written, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker, your comments/suggestions are welcomed at sunisthefuture@gmail.com
Homepage: http://www.sunisthefuture.net
Tags: biggest, Feed-In-Tariffs, First Solar, FIT, GE Energy Financial Services, Geraldton, greenough river solar farm, Is The Future, Jason Waters, largest, Ray Willis, solar, solar pv project, Sun, sunisthefuture.net, susan sun nunamaker, Sustainable Energy Association, Verve Energy