eli5 Why is there no giant solar farm in Australia?

Question

My cursory Google says that it’s not impossible. So why?

EDIT: Answer seems to be that (politics aside) practically it’s cost prohibitive and the tech can’t transfer the energy over the distance required.

In: 609

Answer 1

There are heaps of solar farms in Australia, usually as part of, or replacing regular farms. We’re just in a transition period, and theres no current need for a massive one in the desert for example. The growth is massive though.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Australia

You can export energy long distances, but like others have said, it needs to be stored somehow, into hydrogen, batteries, etc to do so. Wires will lose too much along the way.

Long term strategy in Aus is actually to produce hydrogen using solar, then ship hydrogen to Japan who doesn’t have room to produce it. Japan then use hydrogen instead of all the coal Aus sends currently. One of the reasons Toyota is so keen on hydrogen.