All 73 Hai Long turbines generating, WA and NSW lines advance, solar FIDs

Four grid-buildout stories from October 14 and 15, 2026: a Taiwanese offshore wind farm with every turbine generating, a Western Australian line with its builders, a New South Wales line on public exhibition, and Australia's count of investment decisions on new solar and wind farms.

Hai Long's 73 turbines are all generating

All 73 turbines at Hai Long, Northland Power's 1.0 GW offshore wind project in the Taiwan Strait, are installed and generating power, Northland said on October 15, 2026. The site lies about 45 to 70 kilometres off the coast of Changhua County. Northland (30.6%) is building it jointly with Mitsui & Co. (40%) and Gentari International Renewables (29.4%), backed by a 30-year offtake agreement that provides contracted revenue. Northland calls Hai Long one of Asia's largest offshore wind projects and says it will generate enough electricity for more than one million Taiwanese households.

Generating is not the same as finished. The project "remains on track for final permitting approvals in the first half of 2027 as planned, with overall construction costs aligned with original expectations," Northland says, and the release gives no commercial operation date. Its forward-looking statements notice still counts expectations for "the timing of commercial operations and final permitting" among those that may differ. Northland's October 7 release on Poland's Baltic Power, by contrast, put that farm on track for commercial operations in 2026.

Western Australia picks the Clean Energy Link - East builders

Acciona, GenusPlus and UGL Engineering have been selected to deliver Clean Energy Link - East, Western Australia's government announced on October 14, 2026. Stage one includes new and upgraded transmission lines between Collie and Darkan, and the contracts will deliver infrastructure including a new 330 kV terminal at Cordering, expansion of the Shotts and Muja terminals, 38 km of 330 kV line from Shotts to Cordering and 54 km of 330 kV line from Muja to Cordering. When complete, the statement says, CEL - East "is expected to unlock approximately 2.3GW of renewable energy capacity, the equivalent power usage of around one million homes." It is also expected to create 300 jobs at first, rising to 600 at the peak of construction.

The price comes from the contractor. Acciona's release of October 15 calls Clean Energy Link East an A$655 million initiative (its headline attaches the figure to Stage 1) and says its scope includes building a new transmission terminal south of Darkan, about 200 kilometres south of Perth; the government's statement names no cost.

The statement sells the project on leaving coal and on Collie's future at once. Premier Roger Cook said the government is fast-tracking it, "ensuring our grid is ready for when we get out of State-owned coal by 2030." The local member for Collie-Preston, Jodie Hanns, said: "Collie has powered WA for generations, and the CEL - East expansion shows it will keep playing a vital role in our energy system for generations to come."

New South Wales opens the New England REZ line to submissions

The transmission plan for New South Wales' largest renewable energy zone by network capacity is out for public comment. EnergyCo's environmental impact statement for the New England REZ Transmission Project is on exhibition from October 15 to November 12, 2026, according to the project's NSW Planning Portal page, and submissions go in online through the portal. The project runs from the existing Bayswater Power Station, south of Muswellbrook, to five energy hubs in the New England Renewable Energy Zone, per the exhibition notice. The works include new dual 500 kV lines connecting the zone to the network south of Muswellbrook, 500 kV and 330 kV lines to the hubs, a maintenance facility and upgrades to existing infrastructure.

The EIS executive summary describes a route of around 300 kilometres across eight local government areas. Construction is planned to start in 2028 and take around six years. Stage 1 would provide 2.4 GW of transfer capacity and is expected to be energised in 2032; Stage 2, expected in 2034, would add 3.6 GW, for 6 GW in total. The summary gives the zone itself an intended network capacity of 8 GW, as state law requires. Landholders hosting the infrastructure would receive strategic benefit payments of A$200,000 per kilometre, paid over 20 years. Among the areas of environmental concern the EIS identifies are the ash dams of the Bayswater and Liddell power stations.

Australia's solar investment decisions reach 3.5 GW by September

Large-scale solar farms totalling 994 MW reached final investment decision in the September quarter, according to the Clean Energy Regulator's Q3 2026 data workbook, published on October 15. That brings 2026 to 3,528 MW of solar across three quarters, about 31% more than solar's best full year in the regulator's series, 2020, at about 2.7 GW, by our arithmetic; the series starts in 2016.

Wind is back in the count. Wind projects totalling 1,071 MW reached investment decision in the quarter, after none in the June quarter, which brings 2026 to 5,006 MW of large-scale renewable capacity, more than any full year in the table. The regulator's own numbers move as announcements arrive: its June-quarter report counted 1.8 GW reaching investment decision in that quarter, while the new workbook lists 2,009 MW for it, and the workbook warns that its data, drawn from public announcements, "may be incomplete and may change retrospectively."

Rooftops slowed from their June-quarter peak: 90,042 small-scale solar systems with 894 MW of capacity in the September quarter, against 1,063 MW in the June quarter, both lag-adjusted estimates. The Clean Energy Council's half-year count, on an applications basis, is in Australia added 276,011 batteries and 1,894 MW of rooftop solar in H1 2026. The regulator's analysis will follow in the full quarterly report, which it expects by mid-December 2026.