Port Augusta solar thermal on track as renewables attract investment and create jobs

PRESS RELEASE

Port Augusta solar thermal on track as renewables attract investment and create jobs Port Augusta’s 150 MW solar thermal power plant is on track, with SolarReserve opening its Australian headquarters in Adelaide and its field office in Port Augusta.

The power plant will create 650 construction jobs and the field office in Port Augusta will serve as the base for local workers and businesses to participate in the Aurora project and for SolarReserve to maximise local opportunities.

Construction of the power plant will begin this year and is estimated to be completed in 2020. Premier Jay Weatherill is also turning the first sod at the 212 MW Lincoln Gap wind farm near Port Augusta, which is expected to create up to 130 jobs.

The $450 million Lincoln Gap project is privately funded and will feature a 10 MW battery to provide storage. The wind farm is set to be commissioned in late 2018.

The Premier is also officially opening the first stage of the 18 MW SSE Australia Whyalla Solar Farm. The project has created 20 jobs, with most coming from the Whyalla region.

Labor’s support for renewables contrasts with Steven Marshall’s policy of scrapping the Renewable Energy Target and Nick Xenophon’s view that wind farms cause brain damage.

Both of them support the Turnbull Government’s NEG, which would discourage investment in renewables.

 

Comments

5 responses to “Port Augusta solar thermal on track as renewables attract investment and create jobs”

  1. David K Clarke Avatar
    David K Clarke

    Construction of the Port Augusta solar thermal power station “will begin this year”; very vague. Premier will ‘turn the first sod’ for Lincoln Gap WF; when? Not very informative.

    1. wideEyedPupil Avatar
      wideEyedPupil

      Pretty soon at Lincoln Gap WF if commissioning is schedule for late 2018!

  2. Andy Bo Avatar
    Andy Bo

    I wonder when the Live generation Data widget (sic) will indicate Large Scale Solar for SA. I know the premier opened the new facility but when will it commence generating.

  3. wideEyedPupil Avatar
    wideEyedPupil

    Is Liberal Party support for RE at the state level as bad as that? I’d read elsewhere that because RE was so popular in SA Libs had been ushered into a unity ticket on much of it, only disagreeing about Weatherill’s ambition to lift SA’s RE contribution to the generation mix from ~50% to 80% in the next few years.

  4. Joe Avatar
    Joe

    The only person who is documented with brain damages from Wind Farms is…Nitwit Xylophone himself. I think Nitwit is positioning himself to be the next ‘Wind Commissioner’ ( you know the stooge employed by The COALition, looking but not finding any victims of wind farms ) when his run in SA politik comes crashing down.

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