State-owned Macquarie Generation will double the size of the solar array alongside its Liddell power station in the Hunter Valley, making it the largest solar thermal power project in the southern hemisphere.
An 18,000 square-metre field of mirrors with generating capacity of 9MW - enough to power 1000 homes - will concentrate the sun’s energy to generate steam, acting as a ”solar boiler” and saving fuel at the coal-fired power station.
The solar field will save about 5000 tonnes of greenhouse gasses a year - a tiny fraction of Liddell’s emissions of about 9 million tonnes a year. (Macquarie is the country’s largest emitter, at about 25 million tonnes in 2008-09.)
The solar project will cost approximately $10 million, largely funded by a $9.25 million grant from the NSW government, which means greenhouse gas savings could cost about $100 a tonne assuming the plant operates for 20 years (excluding maintenance costs).
The contractor Novatec BioSol, a subsidiary of Transfield Holdings, will begin construction next year and hopes to finish construction by 2012. Components will be made in the Hunter Valley, creating up to 35 jobs.
Transfield is proposing to use Novatec’s technology to improve efficiency at the Collinsville coal-fired power station in Queensland as part of its shortlisted bid for funding under the federal government’s $1.5 billion Solar Flagships process. This aims to part-fund development of two solar power stations of about 150MW capacity each - one solar thermal and one solar photovoltaic.
Final round bids closed yesterday and the winners will be announced in the middle of next year.
