The solar plants will have a total capacity of 155MW, with first generation expected from the 102MW Nyngan Solar Plant within the next two months.

“First generation will come from 25% of the 1.35 million modules currently installed. We expect first generation to take place in the next month or two and all going well. The Nyngan Solar Plant will be fully operational by July 2015," AGL group general manager merchant energy Anthony Fowler said.

“The Nyngan Solar Plant site covers approximately 250 hectares and 40% of the solar PV modules have been installed so far.

“The project’s main transformer, which increases the voltage from 33kV to 132kV for transmission into the national energy grid, has also been energised in preparation for electricity generation."

Over in Broken Hill, 25% of the posts and 15% of the tilts – which will hold the 650,000 solar PV modules – have been installed.

“Up to 150 jobs will be created during the construction phase at Broken Hill. The plant, which started construction in October 2014, is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2015,” Fowler said.

The two solar plants are expected to produce approximately 360,000-megawatt hours of electricity annually and AGL says total capital expenditure for the two projects is approximately $440 million, with $166.7 million being provided by the federal government’s Australian Renewable Energy Agency and $64.9 million from the NSW government.

AGL has invested more than $3 billion in renewable energy projects in the last decade.