Antinuclear

Australia’s first utility scale solar energy plant – but we lag behind USA

Australia lags US by four years in solar roll-out, First Solar says. SMH, October 16, 2012  First Solar, the biggest maker of thin-film panels, said Australia is four years behind the US in building large solar farms and expects its
project with General Electric to help spur the industry’s expansion.

First Solar is supplying panels to the 10-megawatt Greenough River project in Western Australia, the nation’s first large-scale solar plant. The GE- and Verve Energy-owned solar project, which started this month, may increase capacity to as much as 40 megawatts, the companies said Oct. 10.

“This is less about the size and more about the fact that we now have a utility-scale solar project in Australia,” Jack Curtis, First Solar’s Sydney-based vice president of business development, said . “The local industry can now look to this project and see they can be developed, that they can be executed. It will provide local operational data that can be used to bring the rest of the industry along.” ….. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/australia-lags-us-by-four-years-in-solar-rollout-first-solar-says-20121016-27pih.html#ixzz29ZyKNn6y

October 16, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | solar, Western Australia