New solar farms in Australia’s southeast could be forced to switch off at least one-third of the power they generate by 2027 as delays to critical energy transition projects cause major bottlenecks on the electricity grid.

Forecasts of hypothetical new solar developments by the Australian Energy Market Operator shows that the slow rollout of key poles and wire projects in Victoria could severely limit the amount of power big renewables projects can produce to replace Australia’s soon-to-be-shuttered coal plants.