Solar Projects To See The Light Of Day

Australian
Monday 26/4/2010 Page: 23

IT could be a big fortnight for the Australian solar industry. The shortlist for the first two projects in the $1.5 billion Solar Flagships program is expected to be announced soon, and so will the much awaited but long-delayed winners of the solar component of the Renewable Energy Demonstration Program. The announcements will be a major boost to the solar industry, which has enjoyed something of a mini-boom in small-scale rooftop installations, but has made no progress on larger, utility-scale installations and those in between.

The federal government is expected to announce half a dozen candidates to build Australia's first large-scale photovoltaic project and its first large-scale solar thermal project. There have been some 52 applications, attracting most of the world's leading solar energy developers, equipment suppliers, engineering groups and financiers. The winners are expected to be announced later this year, although there is some concern this timetable may be derailed by the election.

The REDP grant allocations had been expected last year and were feared lost in a bureaucratic reshuffling of funds but, according to a spokesman for Energy Minister Martin Ferguson, they will be announced "in the very near future". These grants, possibly as much as $130 million, will focus on funding demonstration projects for emerging solar technologies. The local industry is rich in natural resources and R&D but has been forced to watch as European countries and China forge ahead with strong government incentive schemes.

Australia is expected to install around 50MW of solar PV this year, mostly the result of sate-based incentive schemes. But according to a survey by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, it trails behind less well solar-endowed countries by a wide margin. Its survey found 7300MW of solar PV was installed worldwide in 2009, with nearly half of this coming from Germany, followed by Italy at 580MW, Japan and the US with nearly 500MW each, the Czech Republic with 397MW and Belgium with 233MW. A further 11,000 may be installed this year.

And solar thermal, which differs from solar PV because it uses the sun's heat to create steam and drive conventional generators, is also making solid progress. Areva, the French nuclear giant which recently completed the purchase of Australian) founded solar thermal group Ausra, is in talks in India with a view to building several 50MW solar thermal plants as part of that country's stated goal to build 1000MW of solar thermal capacity by 2013 and another 3000MW by 2017.

Germany's Solar Millennium, one of the applicants for the Solar Flagships, reportedly said last week it was on track to complete a 150MW solar thermal plant in Egypt this year, which will be boosted by gas turbines and is being touted as a template for a series of solar farms and other renewable energy installations that will form part of the proposed $700bn Desertec Foundation project that will supply up to 25% of Europe's energy needs.