Australia's old powerlines are holding back the renewable energy boom

Australian wind and solar farms are putting downward pressure on energy prices, and there are hundreds of new renewable facilities set to come online. But that green energy is stretching the country's outdated network of transmission lines. Australia's high-capacity transmission lines were designed to service centralised electricity generation from coal-fired power stations. In many cases, these are the areas where the transmission network is weakest, with ageing power lines that were never designed to transport electricity from large-scale renewable generators. Karadoc Solar Farm in Victoria's far north-west, has 300,000 solar panels that produce enough energy to power around 40,000 homes. It plugged into the grid last year. According to the experts, Australia’s transmission infrastructure is beginning to hold back the boom in cheap renewable energy.

Source : https://ab.co/2krpxpY