17 February 2021
The Australian Energy Market Operator has reported record levels of new projects and megawatts of wind and solar coming into the main grid in the last year, and also reveals there are nearly 10 times as many projects queuing for a spot on the network.
In its latest “State of the Systems” report, a new publication designed to enhance visibility of the workings of the often contentious grid connection process, AEMO says that 12 new wind and solar generators with a total capacity of 1,560MW completed their commissioning in 2020, and are now in commercial operation.
But in a sign of the delays being experienced in some regions, it also notes that another 32 generators with a total capacity of 3,301MW had successfully completed the connections process and registered, meaning they were mechanically complete and compliant, but were yet to enter commercial operation. This was expected to occur in “coming weeks and months.”