Tuesday 5/2/2008 Page: 10
CONSTRUCTION is about to start on a new solar power system at The Australian National University. The ANU's SG3 "Big Dish" is the largest solar power system of its kind, and they're about to build a new and bigger one. solar thermal group leader Keith Lovegrove has been researching project for 20 years. They're trying to create a solar power system that will produce solar power at a cost that's comparable to wind energy. The advantage solar power has over wind is it can be stored indefinitely. *The existing SG3 Big Dish is a prototype for a solar power station. Once the new, more cost effective dish is complete, work will begin to look at building a solar power station prototype that can be connected to the power grid of a small town. "If this was part of a system you could power 100 houses on one dish," Mr Lovegrove said of the SG3 dish, which was built in 1994.
The current dish is 400 square metres and the new dish will be 500 square metres, made up of 400 square mirrors, and is due to be finished by August. Then a small power station of 10 dishes will be built at Wyalla, Queensland and the city will be hooked up to the grid. "Anyone can design a dish, the challenge is to design a cheaper one.
* I think most people involved with renewable energy and electricity storage would seriously question this assertion. Electrical storage is not necessarily determined by how the electricity is produced - Blair
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