Port Augusta pushes for federal support for solar tower power plant

Representatives of the Port Augusta community in South Australia have pushed the federal Coalition government for funding support for a proposed 110MW solar tower power plant with storage to replace the coal-fired generator that is scheduled to close in less than two months.

Members of Repower Port Augusta took their message to Canberra on Wednesday, pushing for up to $100 million in grant funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to help ensure that the solar tower plant, which features molten storage and could operate around the clock, will be built.

The team said they got a “positive response” and “there was much interest” from the offices of prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, environment minister Greg Hunt, and energy minister Josh Frydenberg, but they did not get to meet Turnbull or either of the ministers in person. They did meet Labor climate change spokesman Mark Butler.

“We had the opportunity to meet with the offices of key decision makers including the Prime Minister and Environment Ministers,” said Lisa Lumsden, a spokesperson for Repower Port Augusta. “These were productive discussions and there is definitely interest in the need to do something for our region.”

The group is targeting ministers because any funding of the more than $50 million from ARENA requires ministerial support. ARENA is providing $100 million in funds to a range of large scale solar projects, but these will only be solar PV, not solar thermal (towers) with storage.

There are no large-scale solar tower with storage plants in Australia, although several have and are being built in Europe, north and southern Africa, and north and southern America.

Costs are expected to fall quickly once more plants are built and Australia is considered to be a prime market for solar tower and storage, because of its excellent solar resources and increasing amounts of wind and solar PV, particularly in South Australia.