SOLAR ENERGY

Mr SIBBONS (Mitchell) (14:21): Will the Premier update the house on the commonwealth's recent solar energy demonstration project announcements, including the Solar Flagships Program short list?

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:21): It would have been be nice to have greater notice of this question, but I will try to do my best, because I know the honourable member is keen. I am pleased to report that last night the commonwealth made two announcements that relate to potential solar energy projects in our state.

As part of the commonwealth's Renewable Energy Demonstration Program, $60 million out of a total of $92 million was awarded to the Whyalla Solar Oasis Consortium to build a 40 megawatt solar thermal demonstration plant near Whyalla. I am sure Her Excellency the Speaker would welcome that announcement. I congratulate the Whyalla Solar Oasis Consortium on its successful bid, which I understand is now subject to satisfying grant conditions.

The commonwealth also announced a short list for round 1 of the Solar Flagships Program, for which the federal government has committed $1.5 billion. A number of solar flagship proposals involve projects in South Australia, so this announcement has particular relevance to our state. The solar flagships funding commitment will support the construction and demonstration of up to four large scale solar power plants in Australia using solar thermal and, of course, photovoltaic technologies. The Solar Flagships Program is part of the commonwealth government's Clean Energy Initiative which was originally announced in the May 2009 budget and which was expanded in the current budget with an additional $652 million over four years to take it to a $5.1 billion program.

I welcome the commonwealth's expansion of the program, which now includes investment in a new renewable energy future fund to support early stage projects in large and small scale renewable energy projects, including wind, solar and, of course, biomass. It will also be directed towards enhancing Australia's take-up of energy efficiency and helping business and households reduce their energy consumption.

The Clean Energy Initiative was designed to support the research, development and demonstration of low emission energy technologies in Australia and is also part of the commonwealth government's overall plan to achieve the national target of having 20 per cent of Australia's electricity from renewable energy by 2020.

The solar flagships component is specifically geared to accelerate the commercialisation of solar power in Australia. It is intended to provide the foundation for utility scale grid-connected solar power to play a significant role in Australia's electricity supply and to operate within a competitive electricity market. The program is aimed to deliver 1,000 megawatts of solar electricity generation capacity. Members should know that that is for the nation and that in South Australia by the end of this year there will be 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy, mainly from wind power—easily leading the country.

Round 1 of the Solar Flagships Program will result in two projects—one solar thermal and one photovoltaic—being announced in the first half of 2011. An additional process for round 2 will follow at a later stage. The selection process for these initial two projects has been divided into two stages. Stage 1 is the short list of eight projects (from a total of 52 proposals) which was announced last night. The short-listed projects will be invited to participate in the second stage of round 1 and will share up to $15 million in feasibility funding. The short list that was announced last night did not guarantee a project for South Australia but did include our state in both the PV and solar thermal lists. Under the PV proponents (which included AGL Energy, TRUenergy, Infigen and BP Solar), South Australia was included as part of AGL's multi-site project list.

More importantly, the solar thermal list positions South Australia as one of two states in the running to receive a solar thermal project. Of the four solar thermal proponents listed—Acciona Energy Oceania, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Wind Prospect CWP and Transfield—all are positioned to be sited in Queensland, except for Acciona's project, which will be either in Queensland or South Australia. I welcome both AGL's and Acciona's inclusion of South Australia in their site lists, and note that our state not only has exceptional solar resources but also regulatory processes and a government fee structure that positions us very competitively against all other states, including Queensland.