Australian utility Origin Energy confirmed last week (15 August) that it has cancelled the development of its 130MW Morgan and 74MW Carisbrook solar PV projects due to “unfavourable conditions”.
According to the company, the development of the projects was impaired as it is considered “unlikely that they can earn a suitable return on investment”.
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The 130MW Morgan solar PV project was to be developed in several phases in South Australia. Initially, 130MW of solar PV would be installed alongside a 30MW battery energy storage system (BESS).
Origin Energy acquired the 74MW Carisbrook site in central Victoria in March 2022 from solar developer ib Vogt. The site was to occupy a 300-hectare area and house 250,000 solar modules mounted on a single-axis tracking system. It was to be connected to the National Electricity Market (NEM).
The planning permit acquired for the Carisbrook project also allowed the development of a BESS, although the size was never disclosed.
Despite these setbacks, Origin continues to progress its solar PV project pipeline. The largest within this is the Yarrabee Solar Farm, located in New South Wales. It’s first stage has an anticipated generation capacity of 450MW and the potential of up to 900MW. Planning approval also allows for a 25MW BESS.
Origin is also developing the 450MW Salisbury project, based in New South Wales, which had been added to the company’s portfolio via its acquisition of Walcha Energy in February 2024. This allocated a further 1.3GW to its renewable energy pipeline.
Origin Energy is also progressing the development of the 300MW Dapper and 60MW Yanco assets, both based in New South Wales.
Exploration of 1,600MW of solar PV developments
Also cited in the company’s sustainability report, the organisation revealed that it was still committed to developing its solar pipeline and was currently looking at a “number of potential solar farm development projects” that could total around 1,600MW.
With this, Origin said it will continue to monitor the timing of potential transmission network developments and upgrades required to support the projects.
Origin progresses energy storage pipeline
Readers of PV Tech will be aware that Origin Energy also has a heavy influence in the Australian energy storage market with various utility-scale proposals.
One such proposal, the Eraring battery energy storage project in New South Wales, recently saw its second stage development approved, as reported by our sister site Energy-Storage.news.
This stage would see an additional 240MWh/1030MWh grid-forming BESS created, bringing the site’s overall capacity to over 2GWh. This complements Origin’s existing 460MW/1073MWh 2-hour duration BESS currently under construction as part of Stage 1 of the overall project.
It is located at Australia’s largest coal-fired power station, with it anticipated to be withdrawn from service in August 2027. This had recently been extended by the New South Wales government from 2025 to “guarantee a maximum of electricity supply”.
