Solar developer Sun Energy’s 132MW Merredin solar project in Western Australia has been the best-performing PV plant, in terms of AC capacity factor, in October 2025, according to data from research firm Rystad Energy.
The solar PV plant jumped from fifth place in September 2025 to the top spot in October, while the second place in October was also for a PV plant in Western Australia. Synergy and Potentia Energy’s 40MW Greenough River solar PV power plant climbed one position from last month and ended up as the second-best PV power plant in October. Closing the podium in October was Greek energy company Metka’s 110MW Moura solar PV plant in Queensland.
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Overall, the best performing assets in the National Electricity Market (NEM) were spread across New South Wales, Queensland and the two aforementioned projects in Western Australia. New South Wales ended up generating the most solar PV and wind capacity in October with a cumulative of 1,509GWh, of which 796GWh came from solar PV.
The NEM refers to the wholesale electricity market where generators sell electricity to retailers, who then on-sell it to consumers. It operates on one of the world’s longest interconnected power systems, linking Queensland, New South Wales (including the Australian Capital Territory), Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. Premium subscribers can access our monthly NEM data spotlight articles here.
Renewables surpass 50% generation in a given month
For the second consecutive month, renewable energy – solar PV, wind, hydropower and biomass – overtook coal as the highest generating technology in NEM. In October 2025, renewables reached two new records: generation and share.
Renewables collectively reached 9.07TWh of generation, exceeding the previous record set in December 2024 of 8.52TWh. Renewables also reached more than half of NEM’s generation on a monthly basis for the first time.
Moreover, hours of negative prices reached new record highs in three regions: South Australia (with 324 hours), Victoria (290 hours) and New South Wales (181 hours). In total, 1,118 hours of negative prices were registered in October across NEM.
Despite several regions reaching new highs in hours of negative prices, utility batteries have also reached a new high in October, exceeding 200GWh on a monthly basis for the first time. Charging from utility batteries even exceeded the numbers registered from pumped hydro in October, which reached 190GWh.
Rystad Energy’s senior analyst David Dixon highlighted on LinkedIn that solar hybrids were “the big winner” in the latest results from the fourth Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) tender, which awarded contracts for 6.6GW of renewable energy.
Released at the beginning of October, the tender resulted in the selection of 20 projects, solar-plus-storage projects accounting for 11 of those awarded. Interest in the tender was high, attracting 84 bids for a combined 25.6GW capacity across solar PV, wind and energy storage.
Days after the release of the results for the fourth tender, registration for CIS Tender 7 was opened and will close on 9 December 2025. This latest tender seeks 5GW of renewable energy.
