The early delivery of the 20 megawatt plant, one of the first in the country to be funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, was evidence of the growing speed and proficiency of big solar developers, said Arena’s chief executive, Ivor Frischknecht. It is to be followed by a dozen new large-scale solar farms to be built across Australia by the end of 2017. ...Arena has committed $1.1bn in funding to developers of more than 270 renewable energy projects, who are expected to at least match that investment. This includes $20m to Origin Energy’s 107 megawatt Darling Downs solar farm at Dalby, set to be Australia’s largest operating plant by the end of next year. Another project, Genex Power’s 50 megawatt Kidson solar farm west of Townsville, will be built on an old goldmine site.
