No Victorian solar farm has ever reached the power levels promised for SEC's new $370m Horsham development, market data reveals.
The SEC is spending $370m of Victorian taxpayers’ funds building a 212,000 solar panel development at Horsham, which industry analysis shows will generate just half the power the Allan government claims.
Construction has already started on the project, which Premier Jacinta Allan and Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said would generate 242,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy a year – enough to power 51,000 homes.
But the estimate is based on the development operating at 23 per cent of its 119MW capacity, something no other solar farm in Victoria has achieved.
Australian Energy Market Operator data, collated by the Open Energy group, shows the Cohuna solar development, which has been operating since March 2020, generates at 7.8 per cent of its 31.1MW capacity.
Further east the Wunghu development north of Shepparton generates 10.2 per cent of its 93.5MW capacity, while further east the Winton solar farm’s 246,624 solar panels generate at an average 14.3 per cent of their capacity since it started operations in March 2021.
Not even the solar farms in Victoria’s far sunnier north-west can match the government’s generation forecast for Horsham, with Kiamal sitting at 14.9 per cent, Karadoc at 17.6 per cent and Yatpool at 15.5 per cent of their capacity.
AEMO national electricity market data also shows that much of the time solar developments are generating electricity when the market price is negative, due to oversupply.
Centre for Independent Studies energy research director Aidan Morrison said it was “nuts and completely economically backwards” for the SEC to be investing in even more solar generation capacity.
“Everyone is screaming for investment in solar to stop, Mr Morrison said. “They’re (the government) getting the SEC to take on things that the market will not.”
Ms D’Ambrosio has previously stated Labor was “investing in renewable energy projects for people, not profit”.
Victorian Energy Policy Centre director Bruce Mountain questioned why the public sector was involved in the Horsham project at all, given it sat on the shelf undeveloped since 2022, when it was named a winner in the Victorian Government’s second renewable energy auction.
The scheme guarantees winning bidders a floor price, under which Victorian taxpayers pick up any market shortfalls.
The SEC is also investing $245m in the Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub – a 600MW big battery - and entered contracts to supply Victorian schools, hospitals, museums, trains and its offices, with what Ms D’Ambriso said was 100 per cent renewable energy from the beginning of last month.
Asked how the SEC could supply 100 per cent renewables on cloudy days or when the sun went down, Ms D’Ambrosio’s office said: “The SEC has bulk purchasing contracts for renewable energy the equivalent to the amount of electricity the government will use over the next financial year”.
Source:supplied
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