The Turnbull Coalition Government welcomes the proposed building of a $1.2 billion solar storage power station in Port Augusta.
“When the Prime Minister launched the $1 billion Clean Energy Innovation Fund in March, we identified a Port Augusta solar thermal project as exactly the type of project we would support,” Minister Hunt said.
Australia is already undergoing a major transition in the way it produces electricity with older coal power plants closing. The challenge has been to ensure that whatever replaces these older plants can provide electricity in a cost effective and reliable manner.
“Developing a large scale solar project in Port Augusta was always the intention of the Turnbull Coalition Government when it announced the $1 billion Clean Energy Fund,” Mr Ramsey said.
“Solarstor’s project has the potential to make Port Augusta a world leader in the deployment of large scale solar energy, and that is what is so exciting about this proposal.”
“It is great news that 300 people will be employed on-site and 300 off-site during the construction phase, and over 100 staff will be employed to operate the facility in Port Augusta.”
Today’s announcement by Solarstor is a clear demonstration that the transition to new renewable technologies and a low emissions economy is underway without the need for Labor’s job destroying carbon tax.
The Coalition has put in place a Renewable Energy Target that will see a doubling of large scale renewable over the next five years.
“Since we fixed Labor’s renewable energy mess last year, we have seen more than 1,100 MW of new large scale renewable energy projects announced,” Minister Hunt said.
“Australia is well on track to meet its ambitious 2020 renewable energy target.”
“As with Solarstor, I invite any other proponent to work with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to access the Turnbull Coalition Government’s $1 billion Clean Energy Innovation Fund.”