Australian concentrated solar thermal hopeful put into voluntary administration, buyers sought

The hopes of Australian concentrated solar thermal and renewable fuels company Vast Renewables has been dealt a major blow after being put into voluntary administration.

KMPG announced on Thursday that its partners Peter Gothard and Amanda Coneyworth have been appointed voluntary administrators of Vast Renewables.

Vast is best known for a successful pilot solar thermal project in western NSW that led to the development of the Vast Solar 1 long duration storage project proposed for Port Augusta, at the site of an earlier solar thermal project that was halted after its promoter, the US-based Solar Reserve, failed a few years ago.

Like Solar Reserve which received a promised but never drawn grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, Vast also received total funding promises of $180 million for the Port Augusta project, which envisaged 30 MW of solar thermal capacity and eight hours of storage.

It had already drawn down $39 million last year, with the rest dependent on other funding milestones. It is unclear what the status of that project is now.

Vast changed its name and sought a listing on the US-Nasdaq stock exchange last year, but was delisted a few months ago because of the poor performance of its share price, which didn’t meet listing requirements.

Solar thermal has held promise for more than a decade, but has been run over by the falling costs of solar PV, and more recently battery storage. Large projects have been built in Europe, north Africa, the Middle East, China and the Americas, but attempts to do the same in Australia have been thwarted.

Still, its promoters argue that the technology provides competition over the longer term because of the value of its storage duration, and its use of conventional spinning machines to generate power from stored solar.

The administrators said in a statement that the company’s operations will continue as normal while they complete an urgent assessment of the business and begin a sales process.   

“KPMG is working closely with Vast’s management team to explore pathways that maximise the value of Vast’s major project VS1, and its interest in the Port Augusta Green Energy Hub,” Gothard said in a statement.  

“The Administrators will be launching an urgent expression of interest campaign in the coming days, seeking parties interested in purchasing or recapitalising the business.”

The administrators said the move does not relate to Vast’s US-based entities or the SiliconAurora Pty Ltd, which controls the Port Augusta Green Energy Hub, including a 140 MW/ 2 hour battery development. 

They said the first creditors meeting for Vast is expected to be convened for Monday 24 November 2025.  

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