Kidston Solar Project is a

photovoltaic Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially ...

solar power station built on top of the former Kidston Gold Mine utilising the tailings storage facility in northern

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. The project consists of two

solar farm A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building ...

s, KS1 and KS2. The Kidston Solar Project is the first of four projects that comprise the Kidston Clean Energy Hub also occupying this area. The Kidston Solar Project generates up to 145 Gigawatt hours of renewable electricity per year. In total, there are 540,000 panels that makes up the project, manufactured by company First Solar Inc on a single axis tracking system. The photovoltaic panels are mounted on the tracking system which shifts the angle of the panels to follow the sun. Financial close was reached in February 2017 for KS1, with first energisation occurring in November 2017. It is now fully commissioned and operational, connected to the existing 132 kV transmission line powered by Ergon Energy and generating electricity into the NEM. Construction was fully funded at $115M with construction activities for the project built on-time and on-budget via the project's EPC contractor, UGL. Financing was underpinned by the 20-year Revenue Support Deed with the Queensland Government for 100% of the energy generated from the Project, in addition to a $8.9M funding grant provided by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. In April 2022, Kidston Solar Project was rated as the best-performing solar farm in Australia, with a

capacity factor The net capacity factor is the unitless ratio of actual electrical energy output over a given period of time to the theoretical maximum electrical energy output over that period. The theoretical maximum energy output of a given installation is def ...

of 26.4%. A 250 MW / 2,000 MWh hydro-pumped storage is under construction for 2026, and a 150 MW / 600 MWh grid battery is planned, along with a 120 MW

wind farm A wind farm, also called a wind park or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an exten ...

. The previous plans had a 258 MW wind farm and 270 MW more solar. The site is located close to an existing substation and

transmission line In electrical engineering, a transmission line is a specialized cable or other structure designed to conduct electromagnetic waves in a contained manner. The term applies when the conductors are long enough that the wave nature of the transmis ...

References

{{Solar farms in Australia Solar power stations in Queensland Einasleigh, Queensland 2017 establishments in Australia Energy infrastructure completed in 2017

See also

References