TRUenergy To Invest A$290M In Australia Solar Energy Project

Dow Jones Newswires
Monday 25/2/2008

CANBERRA (Dow Jones)--Electricity retailer and generator TRUEnergy said Monday it will spend around A$290 million developing a solar energy plant in the Australian state of Victoria. The investment comes as Australia's newly elected Labor government pushes for more of the country's power to come from renewable sources, with a target of 20% of power being generated by solar, wind, and other renewable technologies by 2020.

TRUEnergy, a unit of Hong Kong-based CLP Group Ltd. said in a statement that it has paid A$40 million for a 20% stake in privately held Melbourne company Solar Systems, which is planning to build a 154 megawatt solar plant in northwestern Victoria. TRUEnergy will also contribute A$7 million toward the development of a 2 megawatt pilot plant, and up to A$285 million to build the remaining stages of the project.

The project will begin generation in 2010 and be fully completed by 2013. Once fully operational, the Victorian power station will meet the needs of over 45,000 households, with zero greenhouse gas emissions. The project has already attracted A$129.5 million of funding from federal and state governments. TRUEnergy Managing Director Richard McIndoe said the partnership will allow Solar Systems to begin developing further solar energy projects across Australia and Asia at a "crucial time", as many countries look to adopt renewable energy technologies to meet large-scale emissions reductions targets.

TRUEnergy's parent company, CLP Group, has also entered a 10-year joint development agreement with Solar Systems to use its technology to develop up to 1 gigawatt of solar energy projects across Asia, McIndoe said. The center-left Labor government, elected to office in November last year due partly to its plans to address climate change, is committed to carbon emission cuts of 60% on year 2000 levels by 2050. Labor's environment policies are expected to push up costs for energy-intensive industries as they curtail the use of cheap fossil fuel based power.