Home: Renewable Energy News: Monday 23 February, 2009

Renewable Energy News

MONDAY 23 FEBRUARY, 2009 |

Queensland Town To Be Fully Solar Powered

Cloncurry - solar powered town

Cloncurry, situated in north west Queensland, Australia, 770 kilometres west of Townsville will become the state's first totally solar powered town.

The project will be situated on a 10 hectare piece of land within the township. Unlike solar farms that utilise solar panels, the facility will comprise of fifty-four 17 meter high solar thermal towers. An estimated 8000 reflective mirrors called heliostats covering 60,000 square meters will reflect and concentrate sunlight onto the towers containing blocks made of a graphite thermal storage medium. Water is then pumped through these blocks to create steam which generates electricity via turbines.

The graphite blocks have the capacity to store the equivalent of 80,000 kWh of energy to generate electricity. The graphite continues to store heat through the night, so electricity can be generated 24 hours a day; allowing the township of 2,400 to become fully powered by solar energy. Ergon Energy will purchase the power generated to supply the Cloncurry community.

According to the project developer, Lloyd Energy Storage, all water used in the system is reclaimed and very little topping up will need to be done each year. There will also be rainwater storage tanks on site to capture runoff from buildings at the facility with a capacity to store up to 200,000 litres.

Over 100 jobs will be created during the construction period, scheduled to commence later this year. The Queensland government is contributing $7 million to the project, with the remaining $24 million coming from Lloyd Energy Storage and its financiers.

Spain Announces New Solar Feed In Tariff Projects

Spain solar feed in tariff

After some delay which threw Spain's solar industry into disarray, the government has announced the first round of solar projects that have been accepted under the country's feed in tariff program for 2009.

As with Ontario, Canada's solar experience, the Spanish government underestimated the interest in solar power with their original feed in tariff program. According to Greentech Media, the first feed-in tariff was launched back in 2007 with a goal of 400 megawatts capacity to be installed by 2010. Spain had installed 344 megawatts by September of 2007 and the government suspended the program.

Under the new program, the government was still overwhelmed with applications, leading to a month's delay in publishing the register and the loss of more than 15,000 jobs, according to Thomas Dias from the Spanish Photovoltaic Industry Association (ASIF).

Under the new feed in tariff program, owners of small rooftop grid connect solar power systems will be paid an AUD equivalent of 67 cents per kilowatt hour produced. The program will work under a gross feed in tariff model, whereby the rate will be payable on all power produced as opposed to a net model where only surplus electricity generated is eligible for the premium payment.

The total number of registered solar power projects accepted for this round represents 88.69 megawatts production capacity. Spain's target for new capacity during 2009 is 500 megawatts. Spain is a global leader in solar power, having added more than 3 gigawatts worth of new solar power in 2008 alone. Like Germany, the driving force behind the rapid uptake has been a gross feed in tariff system.