Canberra Solar Farm Generates Strong Interest

 

ACT Minister for Energy, Simon Corbell, announced yesterday there had been a strong response from the solar industry to the Government's proposed solar farm, with 18 expressions of interest submitted by the end of last week.
  
Mr Corbell says the interest confirms the potential for Canberra to have a thriving renewable energy sector. Interest so far has come from parties within the ACT, interstate and internationally. 
  
The Department of the Environment, Climate Change, Energy and Water will now undertake the detailed examination of the expressions of interest throughout the remainder of this month and August; then it will report to Cabinet. It's expected that a request for more detailed proposals from selected respondents will occur in September.  
 
The solar farm will have a minimum of 30 megawatts of generating capacity, enough to power at least 10,000 homes.
   
Community consultation sessions held in July showed overwhelming support for the solar farm according to Mr Corbell. "This strong level of interest from the industry further supports ACT Labor's plans to make Canberra Australia's Solar Capital."
  
The ACT has also become the object of some envy in other states with its very generous solar feed in tariff scheme. Launched in March, the ACT's program pays a multiplier of 3.88 on the market rate for electricity, which translates to around 50.05c/kWh. Unlike other Australian states with a feed in tariff program, residents of Canberra and the ACT are paid the premium rate on all electricity produced by their home solar power systems, instead of just the surplus their systems export to the mains grid.
 
Combined with other government solar rebates and a scheme guarantee of 20 years, the program provides home owners considering investing in a solar power system reassurance they will be able to recoup their outlay in a much shorter time than in other states. 
  
The ACT's model sparked an increased call for a national, uniform gross feed in tariff program in Australia, instead of the current fractured system that sees other states with schemes some say will do little to increase solar power uptake.
  

Solar Power For Europe - From Africa

 

By 2050, around 10 billion people will inhabit the Earth. They will need food, water, energy and other resources. 
 
Within 6 hours, the deserts of the world receive more energy from the sun than humanity consumes in an entire year. 
 
Far from being useless wastelands as some would believe, even the most lifeless deserts are huge, untapped power sources that can help meet the energy needs of today and into the future. 
 
In order to meet today‘s global power demand of 18,000 TWh/year,  three thousandths of the world‘s deserts (about 90,000 km2) could be utilised for solar farms - it would take about 20 square meters of desert to meet the individual power needs of one human being. 
  
While deserts don't exist in every country; over 90% of the world‘s population live within 3,000 km of one.
 
Not so long ago, it seemed a pipe dream - to supply Europe with clean energy from solar farms in Africa. That dream inched towards reality a couple of days ago when 12 major companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Munich to establish the DESERTEC Industrial Initiative (DII). 
 
The objective of the DII is to analyse and develop the technical, economic, political, social and ecological framework for carbon-free power generation in the deserts of North Africa.
  
The ultimate goal of DESERTEC is to produce sufficient power in North Africa to meet around 15% of Europe’s electricity requirements and a substantial portion of the power needs of the countries where the massive solar farms will be established.
  
Learn more about the DESERTEC initiative.
 

 

 

NEW! - Energy Matters video news!   NEW! - Get Energy Matters News on your mobile!   NEW! - Energy Matters on Google+

 

Click here for news item reproduction guidelines

 

NEW! - Get the Energy Matters news feed widget for your site or blog!

 

---

---

---

---

---

News for Tuesday 14 July, 2009

 

• Off Grid Australians Feeling The Solar Pinch
  


• Solar Powered Advertising - Solar Cell IIM
  

---

View all news for Tuesday 14 July, 2009 on one page

---

---

---

Recent News

 

• Monday 13 July, 2009
  


• Friday 10 July, 2009
  


• Thursday 09 July, 2009
  


• Wednesday 08 July, 2009
  


• Tuesday 07 July, 2009
  

---

---

---

News archive