Broken Hill Solar Plant

Broken Hill Solar Plant
Map
Country
  • Australia
Coordinates31°59′S 141°23′E / 31.99°S 141.39°E / -31.99; 141.39
StatusOperational
Commission date
  • December 2015
Solar farm
Type
Power generation
Nameplate capacity
  • 53 MW
External links
Websitewww.agl.com.au/about-agl/how-we-source-energy/broken-hill-solar-plant
[edit on Wikidata]

The Broken Hill Solar Plant, which became operational in December 2015,[1] is a 53 megawatt farm located near Broken Hill in western New South Wales, Australia. It is associated with the Nyngan Solar Plant (almost 600 km to the east), making the total capacity of the combined plants 155 megawatts.

The Australian Energy Commission sets the regulations for the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). The AEMO calculates and publishes MLFs every year by 1 April as required under clause 3.6 of the National Electricity Rules ahead of commencing on 1 July. These figures are forward-looking projections based on expectations of the demand and dispatch patterns of that upcoming year, as well as the network flows and losses that are expected to occur during that year.[2]

The Broken Hill solar plant, like other generation near the edge of the grid, has suffered from changes in marginal loss factor calculations. The 2017-18 financial year (FY) Marginal Loss Factor (MLF) of 1.2841 to 1.0603 (2018-19 FY MLF) affected revenue.[3][4] The 2019/20 MLF was 0.8349 and the 2020/21 MLF was 0.8644.[5] On 12 September 2019, the output of the farm was reduced by 50%.[6][7]

  1. ^ "AGL Nyngan and Broken Hill solar plants officially opened". AGL Energy. 20 January 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  2. ^ Australian Energy Market Commission (1 March 2019). "Fact sheet - Marginal loss factors" (PDF). Australian Energy Market Commission. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 March 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  3. ^ "REGIONS AND MARGINALLOSS FACTORS: FY 2018-19" (PDF). AEMO. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  4. ^ Parkinson, Giles. "Solar, wind farms hit as AEMO slashes output calculations". Renew Economy. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  5. ^ Australian Energy Market Operator (1 November 2020). "Regions and Marginal Loss Factors: FY 2020-21" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  6. ^ Parkinson, Giles. "AEMO slashes output of five big solar farms by half due to voltage issues". Renew Economy. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  7. ^ Parkinson, Giles. "Solar farms warned of worsening network losses in NSW, Victoria". Renew Economy. Retrieved 12 January 2020.