The federal government has announced three quarters of a billion dollars in funding for two major solar power stations that will go ahead in regional New South Wales and Queensland, one using photovoltaics and one using solar thermal power generation. The Solar Thermal project is based on the compact linear fresnel reflector technology developed by Australia's Dr David Mills, whose company Ausra was bought by Areva early last year. As announced over the weekend, it is the recipient of $464m of Commonwealth money.  The total value of the project is expected to be $1.2b.

The QGECE Heat Exchangers program was part of the solar thermal bid. The Solar Dawn consortium, led by Areva Solar, will now be building a 250 megawatt (MW) solar thermal gas hybrid power plant near Chinchilla. The consortium members are Areva Solar, Mitsui, CS Energy, Thiess and Wind Prospect CWP. The project will be located near Chinchilla in Queensland, next to CS Energy's coal fired Kogan Creek Power Station and directly adjacent to the the Western Downs electrical substation. The solar plant output will be boosted by gas-fired power to ensure it can provide a “firm” dispatch to the grid when the sun is not shining, an important consideration for utility customers. Under the terms of the flagships criteria, gas will be limited to 15 per cent of its annual capacity, but in practice it could provide significantly more.