Kalgoorlie to have first main grid solar station

AAP Newswire
Sunday 29/6/2008

PERTH, June 29 AAP - The Western Australian mining town of Kalgoorlie will house the nation's first solar power station connected to a main grid, Premier Alan Carpenter says. At the Australian Labor Party's state conference in Perth Mr Carpenter has used the backdrop of the energy supply crisis to announce new projects in renewable energy and public transport. The $13 million solar power station will supply 1.77 megawatts of electricity to around 500 homes in the Goldfields town.

The state will also fund research into a harvesting machine for oil mallee trees, a bioenergy source that can be grown alongside conventional cereal crops. A third plank of the government's announcement was an expanded public transport network, including a link from the Perth city centre to the airport, light rail and tram routes, and the extension of existing railway lines. Mr Carpenter also restated Labor's commitment not to mine WA uranium after the Australian Workers Union and former NSW premier Bob Carr said it was time for the ALP to drop its long standing opposition to nuclear energy.

"No nuclear energy, no nuclear waste, no uranium mining in Western Australia," Mr Carpenter said. With an election looming, the premier also used his speech to attack the state opposition for what he says has been an appalling lack of leadership over the energy crisis. Last week, the opposition accused the government of misleading voters over their efforts to reduce household power, claiming on 2.34 per cent of the state's gas supply was consumed by domestic users. The Liberals also called for greater accountability over public information, after the Office for Energy issued disclaimers on public facts sheets. "We don't want that sort of immature stupidity from our political opponents," Mr Carpenter said.