Australia Delays Decision on Final Winners in $1.34 Billion Solar Flagships Program

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--A decision about the two winners of the Australian Solar Flagships Program, which was originally planned to be announced by December 2010, has been deferred until June 2011. A total of 52 applications were submitted for the program, and eight of these were shortlisted earlier this month.

The Solar Flagships Program was announced in the Australian Federal budget last year as a part of the nation's $4.57 billion Clean Energy Initiative, which has set the target that 20% of Australia's energy production come from renewable energy sources by 2020.

Carbon emissions from power production in Australia have risen by 19% since 2000. Queensland derives 98% of its power from coal- and gas-fired power stations, making it one of the developed world's highest greenhouse-gas producers on a per capita basis.

Of the eight shortlisted projects, four are for solar thermal projects, and four are for solar photovoltaic projects. The two winners will include one from each category.

The four shortlisted solar thermal projects include: a 250-megawatt (MW) power project at Kogan Creek, near Chinchilla in Queensland by Wind Projects CWP (Adelaide, Australia)

a power plant of up to 150 MW, also at Kogan Creek, by Parsons Brinckerhoff Incorporated (New York, New York)

Transfield Services Limited's (ASX:TSE) (North Sydney, Australia) proposal to convert a coal-fired power station in Collinsville, Queensland, to a 150-MW solar plant

Acciona SA's (MCE:ANA) (Madrid, Spain) proposal to construct a 200-MW solar thermal plant in either Queensland or New South Wales.

While Queensland appears to dominate the shortlisted projects for solar thermal applications, the four solar photovoltaic projects are more widely distributed. Australian energy company TRUenergy Pty Limited (Melbourne), a subsidiary of CLP Holdings Limited (OTC:CLPHY) (Hong Kong), has plans for a site near Mildura in Victoria, while a joint venture between Infigen Energy (ASX:IFN) (Sydney, Australia) and Suntech Power Holdings Company Limited (NYSE:STP) (Wuxi, China) plans for up to 195 MW of photovoltaic power generation at as many as three sites in New South Wales or Victoria.

The remaining solar photovoltaic projects include plans by BP plc (NYSE:BP) (London, England) for 150 MW from several sites in New South Wales and plans from Energy Limited (ASX:AGL) (Sydney) to install 150 MW of generation from multiple sites in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland.

The Wind Projects project at Kogan Creek in Queensland will use technology developed in Australia by Ausra (Mountain View, California), which was recently acquired by French power company Areva SA (EPA:CEI) (Paris), which uses compact linear Fresnel reflector technology.

The same technology will also be used for a separate project that was recently approved by the Australian government to add a 23-MW solar addition to the existing coal-fired power plant at Kogan Creek.

The Australian and New Zealand Solar Energy Society (Sydney), while welcoming the push for renewable energy projects, is disappointed about the delay. Chief Executive John Grimes would also prefer a policy from the government and opposition parties that would encourage the use of more solar power plants, such as the recently introduced Indian model of competitive feed-in tariffs.

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