The first selection round for the program closed in February with 52 applications submitted and eight projects making the shortlist. The shortlisted projects will now share in up to $15 million in matching dollar-for-dollar grants for feasibility studies.

The eight shortlisted projects fall into two categories, with one project to be selected from each category.

One plant will harvest solar photovoltaic technology, defined by the program as converting solar radiation into a current or voltage.

The other plant will utilise solar thermal technology, a process of concentrating sunlight to create heat to vaporize water or other fluids and using the steam to drive a turbine for generation of electric power. With the addition of thermal storage, this technology also has the ability to continue to generate electricity several hours after the peak solar period of the day.

CS Energy is involved in two of the shortlisted projects, both at Kogan Creek in Queensland one being Wind Prospect CWP’s proposal to build and operate a standalone 250MW solar thermal power plant utilising Areva’s solar compact linear fresnel reflector technology, originally developed in Australia by Ausra.

The other project at Kogan Creek is Parsons Brinckerhoff’s proposal to construct a 150MW solar thermal parabolic trough power station. PB’s partners in the Solar Flair Alliance are CS Energy, Siemens, John Holland, Infrastructure Capital Group, the Queensland University of Technology and Curtin University.

Parsons Brinckerhoff’s Australia Pacific client relationship executive for generation and renewables Craig Chambers told Contractor the project would use Siemens Solel technology, which is proven at utility scale in Spain and the United States.

“The Siemens Solel technology is well proven and its adoption to the Australian market will not be a hugely difficult engineering exercise,” Chambers said. “We are currently looking at storage mediums at Kogan Creek to continue the generation of power during periods when the sun is unavailable, to really optimise the project.”

The existing coal-fired power station at Kogan Creek has already gained from the government’s Renewable Energy Future Fund, receiving $32 million towards a $98.8 million project to install a solar thermal addition to its coal-fired turbines, increasing capacity up to 44MW.

Another Solar Flagships proposal in the solar thermal category is by Acciona Energy Oceania at a site in either Queensland or South Australia, using parabolic trough technology to generate 200MW. The project consortium comprises Acciona, Mitsubishi Corporation, Acciona Infrastructures, BMD Constructions and GHD.

Transfield completes the solar thermal shortlist with its plans to convert the Collinsville coal-fired power station in Queensland into a 150MW solar thermal linear fresnel power plant. The converted power station would produce power using steam generated from Novatec’s Nova-1 linear fresnel solar field, superheated using natural gas.

AGL Energy, in collaboration with US company First Solar and Bovis Lend Lease, is one of the contestants on the photovoltaic shortlist with a proposal to use thin film cadmium telluride solar PV technology generating 150MW at sites spread across each of the eastern states and South Australia.

Using the same technology, energy retailer TruEnergy has also made the list with a plan to generate 180MW at a single site near Mildura using First Solar’s thin film PV modules, to be constructed by Bovis Lend Lease with engineering support anticipated from WorleyParsons.

Wind farm major Infigen, in a joint project with Chinese solar giant Suntech, will look at deploying crystalline silicon solar PV technology at up to three sites in New South Wales or Victoria to generate up to 195MW, utilising Suntech’s solar cell technology, developed in collaboration with the University of New South Wales. Phoenix Solar and Tenix have been named as the engineering, procurement and construction contractors for the project.

Meanwhile, a New South Wales multi-site single axis tracking PV system to generate 150MW is being put forward by BPSolar, working in collaboration with Spain’s Fotowatio.

The candidates will now enter stage two of the application process including the final selection of sites, community consultation and site approvals, evaluation of solar radiation data and network connections and finalisation of financial information including electricity offtake agreements and engineering contracts.

Two projects, one solar thermal and one PV, will be selected for round one, with a target of up to 400MW of combined generation capacity. The winners will be announced early next year. The second funding round is to be held after the outcome of the first is reviewed, with a further two projects expected to be chosen.
News Courtesy "Construction Industry News"