How does your land compare with land where solar farms were built?

Each of four measures (distance to the nearest substation, distance to the nearest line of 66 kV or more, solar yield and average slope) is compared with the same measure at the 124 operating solar farms of 5 MW or more that have a known site, giving the share of those farms this land beats. The four shares are averaged into one score, every farm is scored the same way against the others, and "ahead of N%" is the share of farms whose score is lower than this land's.

The 124 solar farms of 5 MW or more that were operating when this page was built and have a known site: an OpenStreetMap outline (© OpenStreetMap contributors), an EPBC referral area, or a Geoscience Australia point. Each is measured at the centre of its site. Many farms built their own connection substation, which sits on the farm, so a farm's own substation is left out: one inside the farm's outline, one near the centre of its site, or one named after the farm with "solar" in its name. A town's grid substation that only shares the farm's name is kept. The farm is then measured to the next nearest substation, as a new site would be.

Substations and transmission lines: Geoscience Australia's Electricity Infrastructure dataset (1,850 operating substations, 3,130 lines, last edited April 2026), CC BY 4.0. Solar yield: the Global Solar Atlas 2.0 (Solargis for the World Bank), long-term yearly PV output per kWp at about 1 km, CC BY 4.0. Slope: CSIRO's slope grid from the 1 second SRTM DEM-S, at about 90 m, CC BY 4.0. Land use: ABARES Catchment Scale Land Use of Australia, December 2023, at 50 m, CC BY 4.0. Renewable energy zones: AEMO's 2024 Integrated System Plan and Victoria's declared zones of 2026. Solar farms: Geoscience Australia, AEMO, the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) and EPBC referrals to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). Places: ABS Suburbs and Localities 2021.

It is measured as the crow flies, on the earth's surface, from the point to the substation. A connection follows roads, easements and land the line can cross, so it is always longer. The line on the map shows what was measured.

Not on its own. Whether a substation has spare capacity is set by the network operator and AEMO, and changes as projects connect. The site doesn't hold network capacity, land title, zoning or planning rules, flood or bushfire overlays, or what a developer would pay.

The share of Australia's land with a lower yearly PV output than this point, across about 10,474,577 cells of about 1 km. Yield is for a fixed, tilted panel, before losses at a particular site.

It is the average slope of every cell of about 90 m whose centre lies within 500 m of the point, in degrees from flat.

An area planned for new wind and solar farms with the transmission to carry their power. AEMO's zones are candidates in its national plan. A state declares a zone in law, which sets up access rights and rules. Victoria's declared zones are shown. NSW publishes its declared zones' boundaries only as maps, so NSW points show AEMO's candidate zone.

Every solar farm the site has a location for (309 when this page was built), operating, being built or proposed. Operating farms are located by Geoscience Australia; proposed ones by their EPBC referral area or, marked approximate, by their postcode. Farms with no known location aren't counted. "At least" before the MW means some farms have no published capacity.

Each check stores the point rounded to about 100 m, the result and the date. If you answer the hosting question or choose lots, those are saved with it. See privacy.