AUSTELA

Welcome to AUSTELA

The industry body solely dedicated to solar thermal power generation in Australia.

Our Members

We represent and engage with key stakeholders in CSP in Australia.

Join AUSTELA

AUSTELA is working to improve the investment environment for solar thermal energy generation in Australia. Join us.

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LEADING RESEARCH

AUSTELA is working with leading research agencies to connect Australian decision-makers with leading research in solar thermal power.

CONNECT TO GLOBAL INSIGHT

Through AUSTELA’s members and partner organisations, gain unique insights into current developments and trends in solar thermal power.

JOIN AUSTELA

If your organization is involved in solar thermal energy development, technology or investment in Australia, you need to join AUSTELA .

Senate Select Committee into the resilience of electricity infrastructure

The Senate Select Committee into the Resilience of Electricity Infrastructure in a Warming World is considering amongst other things “the role of storage technologies and localised, distributed generation to provide Australia’s electricity networks with the resilience to withstand the increasing severity and frequency of extreme weather events driven by global warming.”

AUSTELA has made a submission (number 43 on the Committee's website) and will present at the hearings in Melbourne on 7 March.

The submission can be downloaded HERE

03 March 2017

by AUSTELA

Fulfilling the Promise of Concentrating Solar Power

Low-Cost Incentives Can Spur Innovation in the Solar Market

By Sean Pool and John Dos Passos Coggin. June 2013, Center for American Progress.

Concentrating solar power—also known as concentrated solar power, concen- trated solar thermal, and CSP—is a cost-effective way to produce electricity while reducing our dependence on foreign oil, improving domestic energy-price stabil- ity, reducing carbon emissions, cleaning our air, promoting economic growth, and creating jobs. One physicist has even touted it as the “technology that will save humanity.”

Grandiose claims aside, concentrating solar power has recently garnered the attention of the U.S. Department of Energy. The agency has created the SunShot Initiative to lead research into the technology—work that aims to increase effi- ciency, lower costs, and deliver more reliable performance from concentrating solar power. Additionally, high-profile U.S.-based companies such as IBM have invested in CSP research. Increasingly, private and public stakeholders believe that the technology holds the greatest potential to harness the power of the sun to meet national sustainability goals.

The Full Report can be downloaded HERE (1.2 MB )

02 October 2014

by AUSTELA

CSP Alliance Report

The Economic and Reliability Benefits of CSP with Thermal Energy Storage: Literature Review and Research Needs

The CSP Alliance

The CSP Alliance is a public policy advocacy organization dedicated to bringing increased awareness and visibility to this sustainable, dispatchable technology.

Our membership includes many of the world’s largest CSP corporations and their supply-chain partners. Our objectives include advancing the industry’s value proposition, addressing issues of job creation and environmental sustainability, and setting the foundation for future uses of the technology.

The first version of this report was released in December 2012. This next version includes expanded discussion of methodology and new study results available over the course of 2013-14.

The Full Report can be downloaded HERE (10.9MB )

17 September 2014

by AUSTELA

Australian Solar Thermal Power Innovation Project an Example of Private Investment Leveraged by Australian Renewable Energy Agency

VAST SOLAR | MEDIA RELEASE Tuesday 20 May 2014

Australian solar thermal power innovation company Vast Solar (www.vastsolar.com) announced today it had commenced construction of a 6MWth (1.1MWe) concentrating solar thermal (CST) power pilot plant near Forbes, New South Wales.

The project, which will demonstrate Vast Solar’s low cost, high efficiency CST generation system, is funded by majority private investment with significant support from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

The first-of-kind project, which includes 3 hours’ thermal storage that will enable the plant to generate electricity day or night on demand, is expected to be operating to supply electricity into the National Energy Market by the end of the year.

Vast Solar’s CEO Andrew Want today said that when completed the Jemalong Solar Thermal Station would be the only standalone solar thermal power plant with thermal energy storage generating power to the grid in Australia.

“Concentrating solar thermal (CST) power is important for Australia and for many sunny regions around the world,” Mr Want said.

20 May 2014

by AUSTELA