South Australia to see growth in wind and solar generation in 2020-2021

Wind farms could bring a total of 1.28GW by 2027-2028.

Wind and solar generation are expected to rise in South Australia in 2020 to 2021, according to data from the Australian Energy Market Operator.

Assuming that there will be strong action on climate change, the state could see new wind farm projects bringing an additional 570MW capacity in 2023 to 2024, rising in total to 1.28GW by 2027 to 2028.

Much of this is projected to be built in the mid-north region, with a small part tipped to be in the southeast, which accounts for the ramping up of generation during this period.

However, there might be a step decrease in 2028 to 2029 due to the possible retirement of wind farms.

Meanwhile, the committed large-scale solar project, Bungala Two Solar Farm, was assumed to be commissioned from 2019 to 2020, which could lead to a rise in solar generation across all scenarios in 2020 to 2021.

In the best-case scenario, the state is projected to see an additional 967MW of capacity in 2023 to 2024, growing in total to 1.2GW by 2026 to 2027. These projects are expected to be built in the Riverland region.