From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

This is the thing that happens with renewable energy” – Dubbo Deputy Mayor Philip Toynton.

Fire forces 400 MW solar farm offline

Fire forced the shutdown of the Wellington North Solar Farm in central western New South Wales at the weekend, but officials expect the 400 MW facility to resume full operations “shortly.”

DECEMBER 8, 2025 DAVID CARROLL

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Data provided by market analyst WattClarity shows the Wellington North solar farm, located about 50 kilometres southeast of Dubbo, shut down soon after 1pm on Saturday 6 December. The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) reported that a 92-hectare grass fire at the site was brought under control by 2.35pm on Saturday as heatwave conditions fuelled bushfires across the state.

A Lightsource bp spokesperson said on Monday that emergency services have since left the site, and the company is now assessing the impact to the facility and working to understand the cause of the fire.

“The incident has been fully contained, with no ongoing fire activity,” the spokesperson said. “Our incident response protocols were activated immediately, and our teams worked closely with emergency services as they managed the situation.”

…Read more: https://www.pv-magazine-australia.com/2025/12/08/fire-forces-400-mw-solar-farm-offline/

Renew Economy also covered the incident. The local deputy mayor is not pleased about having a solar farm in his district;

Grass fire forces one of Australia’s biggest solar farms to shut down for a day, no word yet on cause

Giles Parkinson
Dec 7, 2025

A large grass fire has forced one of Australia’s biggest solar farms – the 400-megawatt (MW) Wellington North facility in the central west of NSW – offline for a day, but it is now back up and running at near full capacity.

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Asked about the cause, the company said in an earlier statement: “The team is working to understand the cause.” The Wellington North solar farm started sending power to the grid in June 2024.

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The incident generated significant interest on social media, with Dubbo deputy mayor Councillor Philip Toynton, an outspoken critic of renewables projects in the area, posting pictures and comments and attracting more than 700 other comments, almost all of them critical of renewables.

“This is the thing that happens with renewable energy,” Toynton, a member of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, said in comments in a video posted to Facebook. “Zero emissions my backside.”

…Read more: https://reneweconomy.com.au/grass-fire-at-one-of-australias-biggest-solar-farms-forces-facility-offline-no-word-yet-on-damage/

I’ve visited Dubbo multiple times in the last 5 years, in my opinion The Shire Bar and Grill in Dubbo is one of the best steak restaurants in the outback, well worth a visit if you are travelling in that area. And be sure to call into Peak Hill Country Crafts for a coffee and cake and some amazing Aussie historical memorabilia, on your way to Parkes Observatory.

But summer in Dubbo is hot and dry.

On this occasion firefighters caught a break – although conditions are currently dry in Western New South Wales, the wind died down to 6 knots on Sunday, which likely helped with containing the fire.

The million-dollar question of course is whether fires are more likely at solar farms, and whether fire control measures are adequate.

Wellington North Solar farm to their credit controlled the fire quickly. But are safety standards that good at all the outback solar farms?

It wasn’t necessarily the solar equipment which started the fire. When conditions are as dry as they are currently, major fires can start spontaneously – a pile of grass cuttings can become an ignition source, or a spark from a lawnmower blade hitting a rock. It is even possible the fire could have started because of attempts to mitigate the fire risk.

Having said that, I suspect having acres of high amperage electronics in close proximity to dry grass probably enhances the fire risk. Dubbo Deputy Mayor Philip Toynton obviously appears to think so.

But all we have at this stage is speculation and anecdotal evidence from people on the ground like Deputy Mayor Toynton. In my opinion we are as unlikely to see an honest assessment of enhanced fire risk at solar farms in Australia’s arid outback as we are to see an honest accounting of endangered species bird kills around wind farms and solar concentrators.

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h/t Walbrook – According to Walbrook locals are claiming 10% of the solar farm panels are damaged.