New renewable capacity added to exceed 7 GW in 2024 – pv magazine Australia

September 25, 2024 David Carroll

The latest quarterly report from the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) shows that total additional renewable energy capacity in Australia could exceed 7GW in 2024, with increasing investment in large-scale solar and wind and continued growth in rooftop solar installations.

In its quarterly carbon market report for Q2 2024, CER said it expects between 3GW and 4GW of large-scale solar and wind capacity to come online this year, down from previous estimates of 2.5-3.0GW.

In small-scale renewables, new rooftop solar installations continue to grow rapidly, with 3.1 GW of capacity expected to be added this year.

While rooftop solar panels shine, CER says the large-scale market is growing to near-record levels.

In the first six months of 2024, 1.5 GW of large-scale solar and wind capacity was approved, up 47% on the same period last year. Another 2.5 GW was under consideration at the end of the June quarter.

“We will continue to monitor whether the record of 4.2 GW approved in 2020 can be broken in 2024,” the regulator said, noting that final investment decisions for large-scale renewables continued to gain momentum, with 1.8 GW of large-scale capacity reaching financial close in the first half of the year, eclipsing the total of 1.6 GW that reached FID in 2023.

CER said it closed financing for projects worth 1 GW in the second quarter of 2018. These included the 380 MW Aldoga Solar Farm, owned by Spanish renewable energy developer Acciona Energia, which is being developed in Queensland, and the 80 MW Quorn Park solar-battery hybrid project, being developed by Enel Green Power Australia in New South Wales.

In the case of small-scale renewables, rooftop solar continues to be installed at an impressive rate across Australia, with 760MW installed in the quarter, up 6% on the same period last year. Q2 2024 also saw a 3% increase in the number of systems installed (79,000) compared to the same period last year.

The share of renewable energy in the National Electricity Market (NEM) was 32% in Q2 2024, down 3% from the previous quarter. This decline is attributed to unfavourable wind conditions during the period and reduced hydropower production due to drought in Tasmania.

Although renewable energy production was lower than expected throughout the second quarter of 2024, the regulator predicts that the average share of renewable energy in calendar year 2024 will be around 42%.

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