Green lights given to two Australian PV projects in NSW and Tasmania

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
A large-scale solar PV plant in New South Wales, Australia. Image: RWE.

State governments in New South Wales and Tasmania have granted approvals to two large-scale solar PV projects this week.

Conditional approvals for NSW solar-plus-storage

The New South Wales Independent Planning Commission has granted conditional approvals to a 215MW/50MWh solar-plus-storage project in the New England Renewable Energy Zone (REZ).

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Oxley solar – the project in question – will be subject to “strict” conditions including an updated and detailed landscape plan with on-site vegetation, appropriately integrating into the surrounding landscape and establishing a range of soil and water management measures. This follows objections from at least 50 people submitted to the Commission.

The AU$370 million (US$242 million) project was found, after an assessment by the Department of Planning and Environment, to be “in the public interest…a suitable site for renewable energy development, given its location within a [renewable energy zone], solar resources, existing land capability class, topography, avoidance of major environmental constraints, and good access to both the regional road network and the existing electrical transmission network.”

New South Wales currently has five confirmed REZs, which designate areas for a high penetration of renewable energies and storage to act as a sort of ‘power station’. In February, the NSW government officially launched the Illawarra REZ, which received 17GW of applications in its initial registration of interest.

Last month, the Australian government unveiled its new Contracts-for-Difference (CfD) scheme which will see it underwrite investments into 32GW of new renewable energy generation and storage capacity. Experts have called the scheme the ‘biggest news in Australian electricity policy’.

Tasmania’s biggest solar plant

In other news this week (12th December) the North Midlands Council, a Tasmanian local government, has approved the development application for a 288MW solar PV project.

The project will be the ‘biggest’ solar development in the state, according to a statement from the Tasmanian Premier’s office, with construction expected to begin in mid-2024 and operations forecast for 2026.

The site will deploy 670,000 solar modules over an area of 600 hectares. Supplier deals or technologies are yet to be disclosed.

Tasmania is seeking to double its renewable energy generation capacity by 2040. Minister for energy and renewables, Nick Duigan, said: “Increasing our renewable energy generation will help ensure Tasmania continues to have the lowest power prices in the nation.”

Indeed, a July report from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) found that Tasmania had the lowest quarterly average electricity prices in the country in Q2, down as low as AU$64/MWh (US$42/MWh). The reason for lowered prices across Australia was a rise in renewable energy generation as a portion of total grid capacity.

There will be a feature-length piece on the recent landscape of Australian renewables investments in the upcoming December edition of our downstream journal, PV Tech Power.

Read Next

June 10, 2025
Australia’s Queensland government has confirmed an AU$2.4 billion investment in the CopperString transmission project, aiming to extend the National Electricity Market (NEM) to the North West Minerals Province.
June 9, 2025
Sonnedix has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Renfe to supply 420GWh of renewable energy annually for its commercial operations.
June 9, 2025
Growing political headwinds threaten to dent US solar manufacturing and project deployment, despite a strong start to 2025.
June 6, 2025
rPlus Energies has secured more than US$500 million for an 800MW solar-plus-storage project in Emery County, Utah, US.  
June 6, 2025
Australia’s Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has called on Australia’s climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, to “urgently intervene” on a rule change that could threaten to derail the uptake of rooftop solar PV.
June 6, 2025
ElectraNet has revealed that renewables supplied 100% of South Australia's electricity demand for 27% of 2024, roughly 99 days.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
June 17, 2025
Napa, USA
Upcoming Webinars
June 30, 2025
10am PST / 6pm BST
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
September 16, 2025
Athens, Greece