Australia’s large-scale wind and solar farms generated 20 per cent more energy in January 2026 than they did in January 2025, new data has revealed, after a big month for wind in Western Australia and for solar in New South Wales.
Rystad Energy’s monthly stats on the best performing utility-scale solar and wind assets reveals that four out of the top five over January were in the nation’s west, led by the 180 megawatt (MW) Warradarge wind farm, with a capacity factor (CF) of 55 per cent.
Warradarge – a regular on the monthly charts of best performers – is located in WA’s windy Mid West region and owned by Bright Energy Investments (BEI), a joint venture between the state-owned utility Synergy and Potentia Energy.
Currently, Warradarge wind farm is undergoing an expansion, with another 30 turbines being added to the existing 51, taking its total generating capacity to 283 MW.
Other projects in the top five include the 214 MW Ratch Austraila/Alinta-owned Yandin wind farm, also in the Mid West, with a capacity factor of 54.6 per cent and APA Group’s Badgingarra (52.1% CF).
For PV the best performing solar farms for January were spread across NSW, the country’s biggest coal state, and Western Australia, led by Neoen’s Griffith project (44.3% AC CF), Sun Energy’s Merredin (42.6% AC CF) in WA and Potentia Energy/Synergy Greenough River (41.1% AC CF) in WA.
The Glenrowan solar farm in Victoria makes an appearance at number five on the charts.
State by state, Rystad’s David Dixon reports that New South Wales was in top spot for combined solar and wind generation over January, at 1,802 GWh with 695 GWh from wind and 1,107 GWh from utility PV.
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Sophie Vorrath
Sophie is editor of Renew Economy and editor of its sister site, One Step Off The Grid . She is the co-host of the Solar Insiders Podcast. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.
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