Sun dawns brightly on regional Queensland's $1.2b power plant plan

The Sunday Mail

20 Jun 11

 

REGIONAL Queensland will be home to one of the biggest solar-gas power plants in the world under a $1.2 billion investment that will create hundreds of jobs.

The Solar Dawn project will use new Australian-pioneered technology and transform Chinchilla and the western downs into the nation's mixed-energy capital.
Building a case to support renewable energy and her carbon pollution tax, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the abundant Queensland sun could help power the region and keep the environment clean. 
"We will protect Australian jobs at the same time as we create new ones," she said. 
 
For Ms Gillard it proves her carbon tax will create green jobs and drive innovation. The construction of the station - about 300km west of Brisbane - is a joint project between the Federal and State governments and an energy consortium led by AREVA Solar. Ms Gillard announced $464 million for the project while Premier Anna Bligh chipped in $75 million.
 
Construction will start in 2013 - a year after the carbon tax starts - and is to be completed two years later. 
It will create up to 300 new jobs, indirectly support up to 1000 jobs and will abate about 500,000 tonnes of emissions a year. 
The energy from the 250-megawatt solar thermal gas hybrid power plant will be bought by an energy retailer and feed back into the electricity grid. Eighty-five per cent of the power generated will be emissions free. It will be able to power the energy use of more than 70,000 homes. Chinchilla's population, 4500, is booming given its gas and coal fields. 
Ms Gillard said her vision for a cleaner economy would pay off. 
"Investment in clean energy projects such as these will continue to help make industrial-scale solar power more feasible, affordable and viable," she said. "Putting a price on carbon will also help drive the investment we need in renewable and clean energy technologies such as solar." 
Ms Bligh said the investment was "a coup for Queensland and a tremendous boost to our reputation as Australia's solar state".

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