The Oil Drum: Australia/New Zealand

6 comments on Ausra La Vista, Baby

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Big Gav on October 25, 2008 - 12:38am

The only real barrier in Oz is the cost of building new transmission capacity (the US has some additional problems with national parks covering some of the best desert acreage).

But if people are willing to build new transmission for CSG (coal seam gas) plants, they should be even more willing to build it for CSP plants.

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Cretaceous on October 25, 2008 - 8:59am

So "The Governator" is on the right track.
;-)

Here in Oz, unfortunately our Government emphasis is still essentially on symbolism, subsidising individual rooftop panels while CSP offers far greater efficiency.

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Cyril R. on October 25, 2008 - 11:36am

Your Australian mandatory renewable energy target (MRET) scheme might be a useful incentive for new transmission buildouts, as some low solar or wind resource areas (read: grids) won't be able to meet the MRET cost-effectively without importing solar or wind, making new infrastructure investments not only economically justified, but also purely financially (which is a more narrow and difficult criterion).

It's good to see Ausra make advancements. Things are going a bit slower than I'd hoped, though. Do you have any more information about their developments on type of thermal storage, and timelines? It doesn't appear that the larger 177 MWe plant will incorporate storage, in fact it looks like just another transitional pilot. I hope they stick to pressurized water storage, looks best overall, for now.

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