Australian breakthrough snapped up - by eager Americans

Sydney Morning Herald
Monday 16/6/2008 Page: 4

FORMER Sydney University professor Dr David Mills couldn't find funding for his giant solar power plants in Australia, but US investors had no qualms wagering at least $40 million on the idea. Dr Mills' first factory for the mass production of "solar parks" will open in Las Vegas later this month. It hosted a gaggle of interested Australian politicians last night in Nevada, including the NSW Environment Minister, Verity Firth.

The power plants, conceived in Dr Mills's Sydney University lab, will reflect sunlight with mirrors to boil water and use the steam to spin turbines, generating electricity for a price not much higher than that of a coal-burning power station. But, unlike some solar power systems, they can function when the sun isn't shining by storing heat in insulated chambers for a rainy day, and continue steadily feeding power into the grid.

The technology, some of which the company is keeping under wraps, is not complicated or particularly expensive, but it is being exploited in Nevada rather than NSW because that is where the financial backing is, Dr Mills said. "We're not really talking about government money or subsidies, we're trying to establish a level playing field for the technology," Dr Mills said.

"There is a big debate being held here [in the US], but I don't think that debate is being held as it should be in Australia." Dr Mills moved the headquarters of Ausra, the solar company he founded, to the US last year because he found that banks there were more willing to take risks on large-scale developments that feed directly into the power grid. "We've shown that the system will be competitive with coalfired electricity, especially when it has the extra cost of having Carbon Capture and Storage fitted," Dr Mills said.

'Added to that, we obviously have no fuel costs." There have been regular inquiries from potential investors in Australia, but so far none has been found to fund a project on a scale that could start seeing greenhouse gas-intensive coal power stations replaced. Ausra does have a pilot plant already functioning at Liddell Power Station near Muswellbrook in the Hunter Valley's traditional coal country, supplementing the coalburning plant and preserving an estimated 4000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.

The NSW Government would like to see more schemes like it, although it is offering no special incentives at this stage. Ms Firth said she hoped the introduction of the Federal Government's Emissions Trading Scheme and renewable energy target of 20 per cent by the year 2020, together with the state's own $40 million renewable energy fund, would encourage Dr Mills' company to persist with a large-scale solar plant in the state. "We'd obviously like to see this sort of industry in NSW, it's absolutely part of our longer term agenda," Ms Firth said.