Engineering contracts signed for Australia’s biggest concentrated solar plant

Australian renewable energy and storage company Vast Renewables has signed key engineering contracts for the development of its 30MW/288MWh VS1 concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in Port Augusta, South Australia, which will be by far the biggest to be built in Australia.

Vast last week announced the beginning of negotiations to gain access to transmission lines, and has followed it up this week with details of key engineering contracts to complete front end engineering design on its VS1 project.

As part of the larger Aurora Energy Project – which also incorporates a grid-scale pilot of 1414 Degrees’ latent heat battery technology, SiBox – VS1 will utilise Vast’s modular CSP tower to deliver long durations storage.

Front end engineering design for the 30MW/288MWh CSP plant will be undertaken by local engineering and project services companies Afry, FYFE, Primero, and Worley, and is expected to be completed by August ahead of a final investment decision in the third quarter, and potential start of construction by the end of the year.

“This is a major step forward for Vast and VS1, putting this historic CSP project on the path to construction,” said Craig Wood, CEO of Vast.

“Afry, FYFE, Primero, and Worley will bring the right combination of global and local expertise to VS1, which will utilise our industry-leading technology to capture and store the sun’s energy during the day before generating heat and dispatchable power during the day or night.”

In addition to 1414 Degrees SiBox pilot, VS1 will also be co-located with a green methanol demonstration plant called Solar Methanol 1 (SM1).